Indefragable Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Brothers, I need a pick me up. What's good in the world of BA right now? What's got me down SPOILERS from Pharos, and Angels of Caliban: In Pharos, Curze chops off Azkaellon's arm as a sort of superhero predicament to see if Sanguinius can save him. And the arm that was chopped off? Had a dead-man's device that set off hidden defensive explosives... ..that kill ALL of the Sanguinary Guard except for four. Yes, brothers, only FOUR bleeping SG remain now, including 3/4 of Azkaellon. Dude...what CHUMPS. I mean, seriously. The SG come off as lame in the fluff as their rules are in the game. As if that's not bad enough, this is pretty much the only times they're ever mentioned. They don't even get that much air time in Fear to Tread. So pretty much the ONLY things we know about them are that they are dumb enough to be all in the same place at the wrong time to be conveniently taken out at once. It's not like we've had pages upon pages of how epic they are so we can understand what a horrible blow this was...some of THE best warriors in all of the galaxy killed, thus making the rest of the legion's activities that much more remarkable...no. As far as we know, they al were red shirts under their gold armor. Gah! the moments of Sanguinius' meditation-by-flight was awesome. For once in 45 :cuss -ing books we get to learn something about Big S and get to pear into his mind. And it's pretty cool. It's hinted that his rage is a defining characteristic, but through much practice and self control he has learned to master it. Part of why he is so loved and feared by his brothers is that self control. Yes! ...but then he lands from his flight to be guarded by Ultramarines personally dispatched by Guillimanto guard him. golly gee? Where the hell is even a SINGLE Legionary from the IX? Apparently the Sanguinary Guard just hang out in one giant C4-filled room while the dude they were designed to fly with is guarded by other legions <double face palm> Going off the last part above, what the heck are the Blood Angels doing? In 3 books: Imperium Secundus, Pharos, and Angels of Caliban....not a SINGLE Blood Angel is mentioned, other than the "hey...a ticking time bomb...let's stand over it!" Sanguinary Guard. Raldoran is mentioned once for literally 2 sentences which is basically to get kicked out of Sang's presence by Guilliman. Sanguinius vs Curze. The dialogue was actually not bad. There was the right amount of insanity from Curze and the right amount of "you're right, brother, but we are better than that!" From Sanguinius. It was also cool to see how S's psychic foresight makes him such a potent combatant: he can see where Curze is going to be moments before it happens, so he he strikes out to his right where Curze was already dodging to, etc... That being said...I'm not sure what to make of this pseudo-fight (if was really like 20s of fighting and the rest dialogue. I guess it kinda makes Sanguinius look good since he was in a cermonial outfit--and it's not mentioned if it's HIS sword or a ceremonial one--against full-on Curze and he seems to hold his own. On the other hand, Curze wants to talk more than anything so he coulda been holding back. And Curze flat out says he is way better "at arms" than Sanguinius ever could be and S seems to agree for a moment? Given that Sangy's character gets a massive boost in the encounter for being a pretty chill dude, maybe that's S just being humble. Curze is also off his rocker and says a lot of stuff deliberately meant to provoke certain reactions, so S could have been disarming in his responses and not taking the bait. So...I give this an "okay". I think it was supposed to make Sangy look cool...and he comes off as pretty awesome character...but I don't know if it had the intended effect of making him look like badass fighter. It was t bad, but naysayers have plenty of ammo as well. The best part of the Sanguinius vs Curze encounter issues Curze says Sang "could have snuffed out Horus like a candle" if he had given in at Signus Prime. And then: "don't you think it should have been you that was made Warmaster? should Father not have appointed you?" And says he is dying to know nad won't leave until he has an answer. He HAS to know. Sanguinius is all humble-pie and badass "I am not worthy" (in a great way). So again. Good stuff for Sang's character...but we didn't really need proof of that. We want to see him crack some skulls! I despair, brothers, I really do. Many of you in here have known just how hopeful nad optimistic I have been in the past...but :cuss I don't know if I can take it anymore. I honestly don't think GW/BL has any idea what the heck to do with the Blood Angels. We get so little mention at all, and when we do it's laughable. Gahhhh. Someone please give me some good news! I know Angelus is a year away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenith Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Worf Syndrome. How did Kurze even know about signus prime anyway? He was off in the thramas system getting slapped around by the dark angels and, you know, warp storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 In Pharos, Curze chops off Azkaellon's arm as a sort of superhero predicament to see if Sanguinius can save him. And the arm that was chopped off? Had a dead-man's device that set off hidden defensive explosives... ..that kill ALL of the Sanguinary Guard except for four. Yes, brothers, only FOUR bleeping SG remain now, including 3/4 of Azkaellon. Dude...what CHUMPS. I mean, seriously. The SG come off as lame in the fluff as their rules are in the game. As if that's not bad enough, this is pretty much the only times they're ever mentioned. They don't even get that much air time in Fear to Tread. So pretty much the ONLY things we know about them are that they are dumb enough to be all in the same place at the wrong time to be conveniently taken out at once. It's not like we've had pages upon pages of how epic they are so we can understand what a horrible blow this was...some of THE best warriors in all of the galaxy killed, thus making the rest of the legion's activities that much more remarkable...no. As far as we know, they al were red shirts under their gold armor. Gah! As ridiculous as that is....i wonder what kind of explosives those were considering it blasted through artificer armor just like that lol Well from all I've heard from the community BA books usually range from blegh to meh with not even a handful exceptions (Mephiston and Dante being two of those already).....and that's a better sitation than what I can say from how Tau are displayed in novels etc. Imo most Black Library books aren't much better than bad fanfic with some rare gems inbetween. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helias_Tancred Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 I wouldn't sweat the SG 30k claymore daisy chain thing. One of Azkaellon's flaws is he can be too protective of Sanguinius. When I read that I interpreted it that he had the entire SG arrayed in front of the doors leading to Sanguinius. They were in a rectangular chamber. That room was also rigged with a bunch of high powered explosives that would have been used once Sg made a fighting retreat through the doors into Sanguinius's chamber, then BOOM that outside area they were just in would have become a C4 Junkie's wet dream of a kill zone! Azkaellon just never had a clue it would be used while they were still out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indefragable Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 I wouldn't sweat the SG 30k claymore daisy chain thing. One of Azkaellon's flaws is he can be too protective of Sanguinius. When I read that I interpreted it that he had the entire SG arrayed in front of the doors leading to Sanguinius. They were in a rectangular chamber. That room was also rigged with a bunch of high powered explosives that would have been used once Sg made a fighting retreat through the doors into Sanguinius's chamber, then BOOM that outside area they were just in would have become a C4 Junkie's wet dream of a kill zone! Azkaellon just never had a clue it would be used while they were still out there. I thought it said that Guilliman had put the explosives there as part of his "fortress Maccrage" thing. Anyways, the reason I do sweat it is because it's a microcosm of BA's treatment in the HH so far: a single sentence and fheh are reduced to almost nothing. The Sanguinary Guard suck. That's the ONLY thing we know about them: that they grouped up and were taken out effortlessly. Some legacy. No wonder the Sanguinor hides his face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyriks Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Both this fluff issue and our weaker rules have led me to start working on a C:SM chapter. It'll be smaller than my BA force but I just don't want to lose on the tabletop and then get kicked in the teeth in the fluff anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durdle-durdle Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 If you haven't read it yet, "Dante" is really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indefragable Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 Both this fluff issue and our weaker rules have led me to start working on a C:SM chapter. It'll be smaller than my BA force but I just don't want to lose on the tabletop and then get kicked in the teeth in the fluff anymore. Yea, exactly. I'm not tapping out (yet), but it's really starting to grate on me. I've gone from all that is hopeful and inspiring about the BA to the depths of the Black Rage. IMHO, it's clear that the rules writers have no idea what they want BA to be/do. Most of our "things" have been pawned off to to other forces, usually even than our versions (frag cannons, good-guy berzerkers, unique flyer). Really all we have left are Sanguinary Guard <cough> "chumps!" <cough> who are flying Honor Guard in theory, but far well short of the mark, and Fast rhino-chassis vehicles. And those are oh-so reliant in the world of Grav. What's almost more terrifying is the fact that even BL seems stuck on what to do with BA: From the mouth of a BL author himself: " Well, there's not much else that they did until the Siege..." http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/331358-so-why-lorgar/?p=4674316 ^ I don't mean to use that against said author, especially since he was kind enough to share some info, but it confirms my nagging suspicions. I just hope the Siege is remotely close to the glory the IX deserves, especially considering there's all this build up for them to do something. It's getting to Half-Life 3 levels of expectations, which I am worried means it will just be a let down. If you haven't read it yet, "Dante" is really good. Yea that's on my list. I might accelerate it's place since I am quite annoyed with HH series right now. ...seriously, 3x whole books about Imperium Secundus--and I'm not even commenting on that idea itself--where Sanguinius is made emperor....yet we never see a single Blood Angels beyond Sanguinary Guard <cough> "chumps!" <cough> getting roflstomped by Curze. What the heck was the entire IX Legion doing all this time? Baking cookies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Reaver Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Yes, I wish BL did more with our fluff as well. Specifically, more within the HH timeline. However, our chapter does get some love with current fluff through the two recent releases: Mephiston & Dante. Additionally, we do get some spotlight through the campaign books: Leviathan & Traitor's Hate/Angel's Blade. GS3 even hints at another one coming soon. It'll be epic for sure if to comes to fruition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helias_Tancred Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Indefragable, I definitely understand your disappointment. It gets old being the keystone cops. Dante and the new Sanguinius novels were very good representations of our chapter. Also many of the Blood Angel short stories, are, ironically good too! Swallow's horrible first Omnibus, and his treatment of Sanguinius in FtT really did some damage. But things are looking up. As to retiring a Blood Angels army and going with a Codex chapter, I did that once, and I'm better for it because I learned without question where my 40k home is and where my loyalty dwells. Once my Blood Angel army is fully complete I plan on doing an allied force of another faction I like from the readings, but in the end I'm a son of Sanguinius and none other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blindhamster Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 likewise, i have dabbled in codex chapters a few times over my 20 years in the hobby, and always end up returning to blood angels. we get our highs and lows, dont worry about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyriks Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Well, I'm 100% still a Blood Angel, and I'm not retiring my army, I'm just building a side project while GW gets their :cuss together vis-a-vis our boys in red. I am also not shelving my BA in the meantime, just not focusing on them exclusively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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