Important Change to Wrath of Baal Relic!

[Diagramdude]

I can see the Sanguinary Ancient finding a competitive role after noticing an important change to the Wrath of Baal Relic!

 

Index Wrath of Baal:

Sanguinary Ancient model only.

• Add 2" to the bearer’s Move characteristic.

• ‘Wrath of Baal (Aura):

If a friendly Blood Angels Jump Pack Core unit is within 6" of this model at the start of the Movement phase, until the end of the phase, add 2" to the Move characteristic of models in that unit.’

 

Codex Wrath of Baal:

Sanguinary Ancient model only.

• ‘Wrath of Baal (Aura):

While a friendly Blood Angels Jump Pack unit is within 6" of this model, each time that unit is selected to make a Normal Move, Advance or Fall Back, add 2" to that unit's Move characteristic until the end of the phase. 

 

The codex wording is a massive change because the aura is no longer locked to the board state at the start of the Movement phase. It's also no longer restricted to only Core units. With the new wording, your jump pack units within the aura at the start of the movement phase can bonus move, and then the ancient himself can bonus move to place other jump pack units under the aura, and then those jump pack units can bonus move. 

 

The most prominent use case is Forlorn Fury. The Forlorn Fury Normal Move is specifically limited to 12" or less, but the Ancient can now move forward 14" after your other units have taken their bonus move, and allow the forward Death Company to move 14" instead of 12". This effectively adds 2" to their charge, and your opponent will need to deploy very defensively to avoid a first turn charge from a Death Company bomb that can move 26" before charging with +1 to the charge roll. 

 

This would also combo well with a Jump Pack Librarian, who can now move 14" in the movement phase and then another 14" in the Psychic Phase with Wings of Sanguinius. That 28" move right before the shooting phase would allow him to flip open the Tome of Malcador and deliver a Null Zone right into the heart of the enemy, perfect for a Plasma Inceptor volley and ensuing charges. I would recommend casting Null Zone before Wings of Sanguinius, so he doesn't fizzle out in the wrong order!

Edited December 10, 2020 by Diagramdude

[Shaezus]

If you're starting jump DC or sanguard etc. on the table, sang ancient with WoB gives a higher chance of making the charge than a chaplain with the charge litany

 

+2 move and +1 charge = total 3" reduced distance to target

 

+2 to charge overrides the +1 so only = 2" reduced distance

 

1" extra from the sang ancient and wrath of baal

[Majkhel]

Very good find!

About casting order - casting Null Zone before Wings makes it also less susceptible to being denied as it's most probably being cast outside the opponent's deny range.
On the other hand, if the Librarian fails Wings, we got to be careful what units we put inside the active Null Zone. 

[Karhedron]

If you're starting jump DC or sanguard etc. on the table, sang ancient with WoB gives a higher chance of making the charge than a chaplain with the charge litany

To quote the old question; Why not both?

 

I think there is good scope for some T1 charges here, particularly from the DC with Lemartes. Lemmy would probably need to FF himself since he can't drop in on T1 anymore.

[Xenith]

Very good find and opens up the usability of this model, thanks for sharing! Now we can have a Banna Wava running up and down the Blood Angels line motivating the troops as he goes. 

[Indefragable]

Very good find!

 

About casting order - casting Null Zone before Wings makes it also less susceptible to being denied as it's most probably being cast outside the opponent's deny range.

On the other hand, if the Librarian fails Wings, we got to be careful what units we put inside the active Null Zone. 

 

I have this mental image of everyone casting side glances at the Librarian and taking a few steps to the side as he warms up.

 

***************

 

I loved the concept of this Relic the moment it came out in Blood of Baal....but we had so many good options at the time (1st world problems) that it was always a Nice to Have rather than a Must like the Standard of Sacrifice was. 

 

Movement is the most important part of charging, just as footwork is the most important part of boxing. The ability to reduce reliance on rolling dice to get what you want is always the best option in a game like this. Charging from Deep Strike of course changes that formula since the game mechanics specifically essentially remove the effects of the Movement phase from the DS'ing unit. 

[BrotherAetherick]

I would highly suggest a chief librarian with psychic mastery WL trait for this. Casting on a 6 for Null zone and 5 for wings (old wings yay) is way more consistent and you will have less awkard moments when your libby is stuck turning off your own invs in the middle of your army.

[redshadow]

I would highly suggest a chief librarian with psychic mastery WL trait for this. Casting on a 6 for Null zone and 5 for wings (old wings yay) is way more consistent and you will have less awkard moments when your libby is stuck turning off your own invs in the middle of your army.

Would be even more consistent if you gave the chief librarian a jump pack, null zone, veil of time, psychic fortress, tomb of malcador for unleash rage and psychic mastery. Definitely a toolbox character able to help deal with a load of different threats.

*not my build, got this for the Steven box blood angels masterclass

[Diagramdude]

Sanguinary Ancient can also hand out +1 to melee hits to a unit within 6” in the command phase. You could Forlorn Fury the front of the death company unit 12” but keep the rear most model within 6” of your ancient, chapter master and sanguinary priest to juice them with +1 to hit, reroll hits, and Blood Chalice. Then they move 14” to make up for the back guy having to reduce his forlorn move.

 

I’m trying out an inferno pistol on my null zone chief librarian. It seems like it could just splat expensive stuff with their invulnerables turned off but not be that big of a deal if it whiffs.

[Indefragable]

The Assassin Librarian is a fun build that catches people off guard.

 

I ran a Jump Libby with Inferno and Force Axe out of a Stormraven in 8th a few times (though I never settled on the rest of the list that I liked). Move 15" (12"+3" disembark) then Wings 12" then re-roll charges, getting potential D:D6 from the inferno and D:D3 from the axe * however many attacks you have. Not as good at killing Knights and such, but for any "normal" character they're as good as done. Took out Abby with this build (though that did have Honor the Chapter at the time). 

[Diagramdude]

I think Blood Angels are the only faction able to deliver a turn 1 null zone into the enemy lines using the tome of malcador to put wings and null zone on the same Psyker. That means a BA jump libby can turn off the shooting phase invulnerable saves of something he’s 30”/34” away from at the start of the movement phase depending on if you are bringing the Wrath of Baal sang ancient. A 5 man unit of plasma inceptors could then remove a ten man Vanguard Veteran stormshield squad or 20 necron warriors/genestealers in one volley, and the libby could charge in to work null zone deeper in for the forlorned death company, although you would need to make sure the death company swing first before your opponent can interrupt and kill the librarian to remove the null zone. It would be a costly sacrifice but I think you could front load so much destruction on the top of T1 to keep your opponent from recovering.

[Karhedron]

I am really taken with the suicide Null Zone libby build (maybe it deserves its own thread). My concern is the number of moving parts. Even with the Chief Libby upgrade you need a 6 and a 5 on psychic tests. That means you only have a 60% chance of getting both powers off (although you can CP reroll one of them I guess). It also depends on your opponent not denying although there are plenty of armies with little or no psychic defenses or who rely on anti-MW stratagems.

[The Unseen]

I think we might be, with said suicide libby, the only faction that can get cut of the head, and it not be *complete* garbage

Though it's likely that if you select it, your opponent will hide their warlord

[Indefragable]

The imagery of a BA Librarian leaping into the middle an enemy force, symbolically tapping the pommel of his force axe on the ground while the foe closes in on him drooling and smiling wickedly, only to hear their force fields turn off....they snicker and move in for the kill as the Libby looks serenely into the air, arms outstretched to accept his fate.....as the night sky fills with the descent of Death Company screaming for blood.....

[Diagramdude]

I played a test game today with the Wrath of Baal Sanguinary Ancient and the 14" move on all my jump packs felt really good. There were several situations where the 14" move opened up opportunities that a 12" move would not have allowed. The extra 2" can make all the difference in getting juuust around the corner of obscuring terrain where not making it around that corner would get the whole unit blown off the table. It was also nice to be able to move the jump packers around the ancient first, then move the ancient in range of some other jump packers who hadn't moved yet. The Ancient was also pretty useful for handing out the +1 to melee hits buff. 

[smileyjim]

You can also tool your sang ancient to be fairly killy. Give him D3 sword, he hits on 2s, you can give him a better save etc.

 

Might be better stacking all the cool toys on a capitan but the option is there. Giving him obsec or remove obsec would be interesting

[Diagramdude]

I noticed one other thing. The Ancient has the SANGUINARY GUARD keyword, so he can make a 6" heroic intervention for 1CP, which can set up a clutch Angel's Sacrifice. A good combo to hold onto 2 CP for. 

[Charlo]

Awesome bit of tech there - incredibly useful for JP heavy builds. 

 

Big fan of the interactions with Forlorn too, that is sheer money.