Why Blood Angels are going to utterly DOMINATE early 6th ed

So this post is kinda tooting the horn of my own army. I personally believe BA are gaining some of the largest benefits of the edition change and I am here to tell you WHY.

1- FNP- Sure FNP goes down from a 4+ to a 5+, and I hope when Codex:CSM comes out that Plague Marines have some caveot to this to help them out (though T5 may still be enough of one), BUT that lowering isn't all that BAD for Blood Angels as they are still wearing Power Armour. Let DE and non power armoured players whine about this one. The sons of Sanguinius are to BA (get it) to let this drag them down.

2- Jump Infantry- As in my previous post, I believe Jump Infantry will be masters of the Battlefield in 6th edition. Able to move 12 inchs. Rumored to be able to roll 3d6 and choose the highest or 2d6 and reroll one, but even without this still an avg charge of 7 in and a possibility of a full 12. Able to move 2d6 in assault phase EVEN IF NOT CHARGING. Relentless (no heavy weapons, so no real benefit here). And these are just benefits for ALL Jump Infantry. OH I almost forgot. A free I10 hit at base S (4 for these guys) on the Charge. Take that Banshees.
Now lets see what tricks BA also have in the bag. So Red Thirst means I have a good chance of getting Fearless and Furious Charge (even better with Astorath). Now imagine the reach of a furious charging unit. Awesome. Now lets take a look at Death Company. These guys are about to become the most feared assault troops in the game.
Fearless
Furious Charge- +1 S.
FNP
RAGE- +2 A for charging. On top of 2 base and 2 CCW. This is the biggest benefit of all.
Able to reroll hits and wounds.
Able to buy special CCW on EVERYONE
When you slap jump packs and power weapons on these guys, you now have a unit that can eat 10 man Plague Marine squads in one go. I may drop vanguard to bring them back into my list.
Now top all of the above off with DoA. I can reach you anywhere at anytime (after 1st turn) and there is nothing you can do to stop me.

3- Fast Vehicles- So BA transports, Predators and Vidicators are fast, and under 6th vehicles can move and shoot MORE. This is great, especially for the Baal Predator with its squintillion weapons. And the Baal is an even better tank killer now with Hull Points allowing weaker weapons to glance a tank to death. And the Vidicator gets full S across the template, not just under the hole, so it is improved too. But back to the FAST part. Speed is going to be KEY in 6th ed. With one third of scenarios playing across the board long ways (short edge deployment zones) and the triangle set up creating large distances as well (I am assuming APOC set up with a larger No Man's Land), and then Jump Infantry, bikes and normal vehicles moving super fast, fast vehicles will be GREAT. Oh, and flyers will be zooming around every which way. Having a Baal Pred that can rev its engines to get in range and then pour on the fire (twin linked assault cannons baby) to bring that beast out of the sky will be nice.

4- Lots of Librarians- I am not sure how all the new psychic powers are going to be or what they are going to be, but I am sure everyone will want to mess around with them and since Blood Angels can bring extra psykers to the table, they will be a great test bed for this. FURTHERMORE since everyone else is going to be throwing around psyker powers like confetti at a parade, having psychic defence will be critical too. Librarians have hoods. Nuff said.

5- Allies- So BA can ally with a whole bunch of people. Not really sure if I am going to be taking Allies, as no one has better jump infantry really, though some GK may be nice. HOWEVER I think taking Blood Angels is one of the smartest things a player can do. I think alot of the following will be seen:
Chaplain, Death Company, Furioso Librarian.
Librarian, Assault Squad, Furioso Librarian.
Either of the Above with a Storm Raven instead of Furioso.
Either of the Above with Sanguinary Priest instead of Furioso.
The Sanguinary Priest will be super great for the most trusted category of Allies, as a unit can consist of up to 3 of these guys and an aegis of FNP and furious charge will be most welcome, especially on other assault armies like SW, GK and BT.

Predictions on the Meta Shift of 6th edition

Well my copy of 6th edition has shipped and is on its was to me in Japan. YAY.

I am looking forward to sixth with an eager and nervous anticipation. There are alot of rumours flying around at this point, and they are getting more and more hammered out, and somethings are even being pulled from copies of the book.

So I just want to have a quick discussion on some changes I see happening in 6th.

1- The reign of the Plasma has returned- so 5th ed really saw melta weaponry become the special of choice. With mech armies reigning supreme, hard tank hitting power really counted for something. But now I think melta weapons are going to come back and at least be more prevalent then they were in 5th. Why? Well there are several weapons of plasma and each has its own reasons.
Plasma Pistol- with random charge ranges, close range weaponry is more important than ever. Popping off some sure shots before charging will be critical because you never know if you are going to fall short in assault. High S and good AP make plasma pistols a reliable way to score a wound. Sure the melta is high S and close range, but not everyone/everything can take it and it still provides no benefit in CC.
Plasma Gun- being able to always shoot twice at 12 or once at 24 is GREAT. This gives you high S and AP at range and more firepower up close. As well, the new hull points mechanism benefits the Gun as penetrating isn't as ciritical anymore when wheight of fire at sufficient  S alone can wreck a vehicle. At S7, the Gun fits right in there, able to glance 13 and under, with A 11 being easy and ideal, and still likely to penetrate. Plust this can happen at range or double up with rapid fire, where as meltas are no more than once at 12. Plus, with casualties removed from the front explicitly, I feel more comfortable have weapons with reach in the back of my squad than my short range power at the front just begging to be gunned down.
Plasma Cannon- With blast templates being uniform S across the template against vehicles now, you get a very potent weapon able to smash aside heavy infantry and light to medium vehicles with ease. Yes Krak missiles can get a higher S, but are more likely to miss and Frak missiles are far worse vs infantry.
BASICALLY it comes down to the tactically flexibility offered by plasma under 6th, and IMO that is a flexibility no other weapon type surpasses.

2- The reign of the Mech is over- So while vehicles will still be potent, I feel they are now shootier and more fragile, which is perfect. Tanks should always shoot ALOT. They have several people inside them just for that. I always hated limiting how much I could fire when I KNEW my Leman Russ had separate gunners for the sponsons. Meanwhile hull points make tanks vulnerable to weapons they were never vulnerable to before. What did chimera's ever truly have to fear of 2 heavy bolters. Now one heavy bolter can chew one up in one turn with some luck, never mind 2.

3- The reign of Jump Infantry has begun- this is the most exciting thing to me. More reliable assault ranges, potential for extreme movement across the board, free I10 attacks (take that Banshees). DoA Blood Angels will be supreme masters of the battlefield. I am so happy to play them. It is like Christmas came early for me. I can not wait to have my fire 24 inch assault. The brutality will be beautiful.

Then there are some minor changes I see occuring. Tau will gain some foothold again with 1/2 distance instead of 12" rapid fire (if true) with Pulse rifles (15" x 2) and Kroot Guns (24" x 2). I don't like the different power weapons. IE Sword vs Axe. While cool, it means models I have built with Axes because I liked the look of them more may now have to be redone to change to a sword just for a reason in the rules, though I don't know how this may shift the meta. The mission set ups are going to cause another shift. With 1/3rd of them being potentially short edges, you are going to see bikes, skimmers and jump infantry grow in popularity, not even to mention the comign of Flyers. Mech will still be essential, but as a deivery rather than combat system IMO. Speed matters in 6th edition, and if you are slow, you might as well be static and prep a good defence. One thing I haven't seen is about random game length. I hope it is gone acutally, because with SO MANY fast things on the table, the 5th/6th turn swoop and grab is going to be really prevalent, so a known factor of when the game will end can play a critical role in preventing such a manuever. JETBIKES ZOOM!

Cypher? - Discordian

?

Cypher is my second favorite character in 40k. My favorite character being a dude who's imaginary friends are in fact a unit of terminators, I just wished he had half as much fluff as Cypher.

Back to Cypher, I keep seeing rumors talking about Dark Angels, Chaos Space Marines, and every once in a while something about the Fallen.

Here's a little info on the Fallen and Cypher for those of you not aware of this awesome back story of 40k. The Fallen are currently former members of the "Loyal" Dark Angels. I say "Loyal" with quotes because there is a lot of indication that the current members of the dark angels, or at least the upper hierarchy, where in fact swayed by chaos and the Fallen stood up to them for doing so.

End result of whatever really did happen is now these Fallen are actively hunted by the Dark Angels to be whisked away to The Rock (the Dark Angel Space Castle), where they are interrogated and encouraged to apologise.

You can have one just like this too and only at the cost of your own home world!

(Which you destroy because you couldn't get along with your Siblings)

Cypher is one of the Fallen who has made a name for himself by being very mysterious, very skilled, and very wanted by the Dark Angels. There's a lot of speculation on what he's really trying to do, a lot of what the fluff is pointing to is that in fact Cypher and the Fallen are loyal to the emperor. And are only on the run because the Dark Angels who are still Dark Angels don't want people to know that they almost backed the other Chaos Space Marines or at the very least attempted to pretend to be late so that the emperor could be killed.

So you end up with this awesome conspiracy theory where the the good guys did something bad and are now trying to be good, while hunting the bad guys who happen to be good guys who are now stuck working with the bad guys who in are fact bad because they are trying to kill the good guys who where bad still trying to be good guys.

Now like I said I have been seeing a lot of rumors about whats to come, in fact somebodies blog today had a photo shot of just mister mysterious above and It made me want to check something.  

I went to GW's website looking for Cyphers model page. Guess where I ended up?

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/armySubUnitCats.jsp?catId=cat440207a&rootCatGameStyle=

Awhile back I wanted to field him as my callidus and ended up just making him out of a dark angels veterans box, but when I looked up his model on GW and I could have sworn it was in the collectors range then. Which makes sense because he hasn't had rules in a couple editions.

If anyone can back me up on this that would be great, because I could just be going crazy thinking for the best and I want to make sure.

Space Marine Captains- How to make the worst HQ FUN in the 6th Ed. Space Marine Codex

As we all know, no one ever takes the lowly Space Marine Captain. There is either a named Character that does everything he does better and then some OR the benefits of a Librarian/Chaplain just flat out outweigh what he brings to the table (which they always do).

Now what I am going to propose can atcually be taken FOR ANY CODEX CHAPTER- Blood Angels and Dark Angels namely. You will see why the Wolves and Templars wouldn't really benefit from it as I explain.

So, as we know army variants are now driven by characters, and while in the past I have suggested that different doctrine-like qualities be applied to SM Tactics to get different Chapters, I have also come to realize that the standard codex really only supports Battle Company engagements.

That is that, unless you take a named character, you are typically limmited to playing 2-5th companies. While DA can also play DW/RW (which taking the named Character make sense for) and Blood Angels can claim to play as 8th Company taking assault marines as troops, the core for a SM army is TACTICAL SQUADS (meaning technically the reserve companies, 6 and 7, are "playable").

However, this is not neccesarily how forces are always deployed and battles always fought. So while I'd like to see my idea linked above put into place, I think the following would be nice as well.

1- SM Captains should have the largest selection of Wargear. These guys should have virtually EVERYTHING avaliable to the other than the specialised equipment of Characters/Chaplains/Librarians/Techpriest/Apothecary. Everything else should be free game. EVERYTHING. I think even heavy weapons, because if I was 9th Company Captain, heck, I'd possibly want a Lascannon. This way, there can be combinations and options just not available or affordable on other characters.

2- You should have the option to select what company he is, and with that, your force composition can change. This is where the SW and BT don't fit into the concept. Each SW Grand Company is pretty much a self sufficient force, with their own Blood Claws, Grey Hunters, and Long Fangs. Different Wolf Lords would have their own force compositions, and this match in fluff to force composition is already allowed under the current codex. BT are pretty much the same way with their Marshalls and Crusade Fleets. BUT Vanilla SM, DA and BA all have a structured orginization to their Chapter's companies. As such, wouldn't it be nice to be able to say "I want to play Ultramarines 9th Company" and be able to do it. Just massed SM firepower and siege capability, with a Captain geared for such a fight in stats, equipment, and rules? Maybe 10th Company. Sure you can fill your troops with Scouts as it is, but wouldn't it be even better if you could have a Captain in Carapace Armour leading them and rules to enhance a force of scouts beyond what their standard rules apply? What about 1st company? How come only DA have that capability especially when you read about it all the time- Battle of McCragge, Battle for Nocturne, aboard Space Hulks, etc. etc. An army of Sternguard/Vanguard/Terminators/Dreadnoughts ONLY. At the same time, certain restrictions would have to apply to each variant (EG- No Dreadnoughts in 10th company, no Assault squads in 9th). Obviously, the standard run of the mill captain would have access to the whole range of Codex choices, BUT not provide the benefits that a specialised captain would.

Now I think this just MAKES SENSE and would be FUN. Everyone like rules that match the fluff, and the point of the game is to be FUN contrary to what you may think (because winning is fun, but fun can be more than winning). It also would be good for the hobby aspect of the game, allowing for more unique forces, conversions, and characters.

Genswick Imperial Guard Mortar and Lascannon Conversions

So I did yet more work on my Genswick this week. With the completion of these fellows though I am going to temporarily stop work on them and switch to painting Blood Angels. I have my paints and my painting station all set up ready to go, I just need to sit down and DO IT. First up will either be finishing my NMN Sanguinary Guard or an Assault Squad. Can't start untill Friday anyways, so I have some time to make up my mind (though comments here can persuade me one way or another.

But that is enough about that, you came to see my Genswick Heavy Weapon Teams. You may notice traces of paint on the weapons. This is because they are all second hand off ebay. The guns new were pretty much only available from GW and were metal, coming in at $22.50 a pop. So I bargain hunted and really made out. To strip the paint, I soaked them in Simple Green for 2 or so days and then just scrubbed them off with an old tooth brush and scrapped a little with sculpting tools/exacto knife for the hard to reach parts. I am not too worried abotu residuals, as it is either flat and easily painted over OR it is leftover primer.

First up LASCANNONS. I built these using Ork Zzap Guns and Brettonian Men at Arms with Cadian Arms (mostly heavy weapon and tank crew arms, especially missile launcher hands)

Next up is Mortars. Really the same thing for the weapon crewmen as the Lascannons, but the guns this time are Ork Kannons. I just removed their blast shields as they were too haphazard and Orky (plus they had a glyph on them).

Really some pretty simple work but something I am entirely pleased with. I can't wait to paint this army and see it on the table. But as I said, first some more Blood Angel work. I need to stick to my Hobby Goals.