BA or SW?

[Corpsgrindr]

I'm a new player and I've come across a dilemma, I can't for the life of me figure out if I'd rather play the furious and beautiful Blood Angels or the mighty space wolfs.

 

From a design stand point I definitely prefer the look of blood angles over Space Wolves. But spacewolves have access to wulfen which I absolutely love. All in all the only models in my possession are from the dark imperium box set.

 

I guess if it only came down to looks I should go blood angles but I have heard that they have had the short end of the stuck in previous editions. I'm torn, I don't want to sink a bunch of money into an army that could be out preformed by a better established chapter.

 

I guess a few more details on what I want my army to accomplish would include: mainly close combat (assault) army,psychers (purely speculative as a SW codex could be months away), decent special characters (flavor).

 

Anything you could do to help would be great

[9x19 Parabellum]

Not sure how to help you. It really comes down to this:

 

Blood Angels: prettier, better lore, better Primarch, better everything...well...except...

 

Space Wolves: better on the actual tabletop (or at least, they probably will be).

 

So what do you prioritize more?  Beauty or powerful?

[Corpsgrindr]

I want to win games, I guess blood angels will always be GW's bastard red headed step child.

[9x19 Parabellum]

Well, obviously it's not possible to tell given that SW are not out yet, but in the last edition, Space Wolves kicked the nipple-armor out of Blood Angels. Thunderwolf Cav and Wulfen were both pretty broken.  No idea how they are looking in 8th. Most of us in BA land are rating our new codex better than last edition, about a B+, but we don't estimate it's going to be a top tier codex, sadly.

[Ishagu]

Blood Angels imo are pretty good post codex. We don't know what's in store for the wolves however. Their late release has convinced me that Russ is coming - the time frame makes sense.

[Frater Cornelius]

Well, BA are about speed and lightning fast strikes. Imagine a sword or spear piercing the opponent. I would not call SW a blunt instrument, but they are more rough around the edges. Imagine an axe. You would not cut down a tree with a sword, neither will you pierce a heart with an axe.

 

If it is gameplay and viability you value, then you need to wait until SW come out. The current BA book is better than what they used to have. However, other SM factions, including SW, will always have an edge so long as the current range exists, seeing as units like Wulfen and TWC will always be better than SG and DC. Having said that, BA have their niche and they can outperform TWC and Wulfen in melee by virtue of speed and choosing engagements instead of trying to bulldozer everything into the ground.

At this point it is merely speculation and the current BA book proved some of it wrong. No judgement can be made until SW come out.

 

In terms of lore... Well, it is no secret that I am fairly antagonistic towards SW, so I will not comment on that one, lest bias gets the better of me. Neither do I like overblown and in-your-face symbolism too much. I like it simple, hence I play vanilla Marines.

 

Verdict? I'd say it hinges on play style. Do you prefer the heart-piercing sword or the tree-felling axe?

[Blindhamster]

space wolves are versatile, in many ways more so than any other marine chapter. They tend to be very good in melee and have strong mid range shooting.

I imagine this will be no different and they are likely to be "the best" of all the marines again.

Especially if they get Russ as well.

 

 

That being said, the new BA codex is decent, the red thirst is a very good rule if you plan to be melee focused, and they are second to none in terms of maneuverability and speed thanks to stratagems mostly centering on that. Sanguinary Guard are pretty good, Death company are pretty good (both will out melee Codex Marine melee units except for TH/SS terminators - But BA get those too anyway). BA have some pretty good characters, although for whatever reason, they often lack the utility of the codex marine equivalents. Wolves will no doubt have absolute power house characters however.

[Stoic Raptor]

Do you want to go Team Edward, with the pasty, mopey runt of a vampire?

Or do you want to go Team Jacob, with the buff dude that turns into a wolf the size of a Volkswagen?

 

[Charlo]

You would not cut down a tree with a sword, neither will you pierce a heart with an axe.

 

That is far more wise than it has any right to be :P

 

....It's going in the signature.

[Aothaine]

I'm a new player and I've come across a dilemma, I can't for the life of me figure out if I'd rather play the furious and beautiful Blood Angels or the mighty space wolfs.

 

From a design stand point I definitely prefer the look of blood angles over Space Wolves. But spacewolves have access to wulfen which I absolutely love. All in all the only models in my possession are from the dark imperium box set.

 

I guess if it only came down to looks I should go blood angles but I have heard that they have had the short end of the stuck in previous editions. I'm torn, I don't want to sink a bunch of money into an army that could be out preformed by a better established chapter.

 

I guess a few more details on what I want my army to accomplish would include: mainly close combat (assault) army,psychers (purely speculative as a SW codex could be months away), decent special characters (flavor).

 

Anything you could do to help would be great

 

 

I would say that unless you are solely focused on always winning play what you want. If you only want to win.. going one faction is a bad idea. You're going to want to go Ultramarines (for girly man) / Sisters of Battle (for celestine) / Imperial Guard (for more bodies) or something close to that.

[SydonianDragoon404]

I'm in a sour mood today, so I'll toss in a snide comment about how they all die equally fast to smite spam.