Editing Blood Ravens (section)

==On the Tabletop==
Thanks to Dawn of War, Blood Ravens now receive at least passing mention in each Space Marine codex -- including, as mentioned above, a lot of fluff and rules updates in July 2019's White Dwarf.

Canonically they lost a good amount of their number due to being trapped in the Dark Imperium, but were gifted -- no, seriously this time -- Primaris geneseed and tech by the Emissaries Imperatus of the Custodes. According to the fluff the Blood Ravens have a not insignificant number of Librarians, as befitting a possible Thousand Sons successor chapter.

In the Index Astartes update in WD July 2019, a specific Chapter Tactic was provided -- '''Relentless Seekers''', which forces any unmodified rolls to wound of 1 or 2 to always fail, as well as giving them the ability to reroll 1s for any Psychic test or Deny the Witch. They also have a special Stratagem which for 1CP, allows them to make one of their librarians a '''Chief Librarian''', which has 1 more power and can deny the witch 1 more time per turn.

In perhaps a nod to what the Bloody Magpies are best known for, '''Purgatorus''', a special bolt pistol that they just happened to end up with is also listed as a wargear option.

The release of the 2019 Space Marines codex, however, made it clear that Magpies still steal everything, including chapter tactics — as theirs is a pick of two options from the make-your-own-successor-tactic list, and Purgatorus is a generic relic available to anyone.

===Blood Ravens Paint Scheme===
[[File:Rik Turner's Blood Ravens.png|275px|thumb|right|They were gifted Primaris Gene Seed from the Custodes. No, literally.]]

The first official colour scheme provided was Khorne Red Armour, a Black Imperial Aquila, and Ushabti Bone pauldrons with Black trim. The company colour is painted on the right kneepad. A more modern bone colour from GW is 2019's Morghast Bone, which is somewhere between Zandri Dust and Ushabti Bone, and is for all intents and purposes a base paint version of Ushabti Bone. For Contrast paints, you're probably looking at Flesh Tearers Red armour, a Black Templar aquilla, and Skeleton Horde pauldrons; Blood Angels Red may also work for the armour if you prefer.

[[File:Battle-Ready Blood Ravens.png|230px|thumb|left|'Battle-Ready' scheme for the Blood Ravens.]]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4nCScpgDhA Warhammer TV] shows them being painted similarly, although the Ushabti Bone pauldrons are now Zandri Dust (partially because Ushabti Bone is a layer paint, and painting it on top of a non-Zandri Dust undercoat is a pain in the ass). Forge World (on their Gabriel Angelos page) alongside some newer WTV videos suggest Mephiston Red with 100% Carroburg Crimson shade instead, which is almost the same as Khorne Red with a more gradual shading. Paul Norton from the GW Heavy Metal Team [https://twitter.com/ajuntapaulpal/status/876099214513770496?lang=en painted a Primaris Lieutenant] and used a 50/50 mix of Mephiston Red and Rhinox Hide, for those that prefer the darker red of their vidya appearance and aren't shy about mixing paints.

What isn't covered in any detail is how, exactly, Sergeants / Veterans / Veteran Sergeant / Lieutenants are handled. In typical Codex chapters these are handled by Red / White / Red + White Stripe / White Stripe + Red Stripe, but this falls apart when the armour colour is red to begin with, and the video game dodged the issue by not giving any officers helmets and only including terminators as Veterans. Paul Norton's Primaris Lieutenant (above) used a bone coloured helmet with a black stripe, which implies: Sergeant: Black, Vet: Bone, Vet Sergeant: Black with Bone Stripes, Lieutenant: Bone with Black Stripes or Red with Black stripe and bone inner stripe.

Rik Turner's army in the 2019 White Dwarf article on Blood Ravens, on the other hand, had a Sergeant with a bone helm, and a Primaris Ancient + Lieutenant with a black helmet and bone face mask -- with the Aquilla being bone instead of black, and the kneepads not painted in any longer. The Captain seems to have a gold helmet, as well. Possibly, they are gifts.