Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Blood Angels (section)

===Elites===

* '''Legends Wargear:''' A butt-load of models have additional wargear options available to them, but they're in the Legends PDF.
**'''Company Ancient:''' +1 power level gets you M12", Fly, and Jump Pack. No points cost, but this anon recommends tacking 10pts onto a regular Company Ancient. 
**'''Company Champion:''' +1 power level gets you M12", Fly, and Jump Pack. No points cost, but this anon recommends tacking 10pts onto a regular Company Champion. 
**'''Company Veterans:'''+1 power level gets you M12", Fly, and Jump Pack. No points cost, but this anon recommends tacking 2pts per model (same as Vanguard Veterans) onto regular Company Veterans. 

*'''Vanguard Veterans:''' Mentioned here to point out the hand flamer and inferno pistol access. A squad of five with inferno pistols + thunder hammers ought to kill you a Knight in a turn, and hand flamer + lightning claws will wipe out W1 units like no ones business.
**Elite killing is done better by Sanguinary guard, whilst horde killing is (mostly) done better by DC. If you're buying into Vanguard then you're getting them for storm shields (which makes them the tankiest of the three against attacks) and/or lightning claws (which gives you the best horde killer at the cost of survivability if you go all in).
**A quick note that Vanguard have one other trick that Sanguinary Guard cannot perform: dual wielding pistols. Whether you wish to use dual grav, plasma, flame or inferno, Vanguard can wield two and avoid needing to charge at all. But if you're on this page you likely don't care about that; BA do want to be punching things after all. 

*'''Sanguinary Ancient:''' You can only have one of this model per army. A 125pts mash of Sanguinary Guard and Chapter Ancient. From the Ancient, the Astartes Banner Aura makes Blood Angel Core units within 6" gain +1Ld and can make one melee or shooting attack before being removed from play if they die and Chapter Banner gives one Blood Angel Core unit +1 to hit rolls with melee weapons. From the Sanguinary Guard, Angelic Visage makes enemy melee attacks against this model suffer -1 to hit rolls and Heirs of Azkaellon grants this model +1 to hit rolls if they're within 6" of your Blood Angel Warlord. Unlike most Ancients, this guy remembered he has two hands for weapons (ignore the fact that the gun is wrist-mounted). He has an angelus boltgun (18", assault 2, S4, AP-1, D1) which can be swapped for an inferno pistol (6" and pistol 1 meltagun) or plasma pistol. His encarmine sword (a D2 power sword) can be swapped for an encarmine axe (D2 power axe) or a powerfist. 
** Worth remembering that Blood Angel Ancients cannot be upgraded to Chapter Ancients. So far, this has not been FAQ'd to extend to Blood Angel Successors. With the way this is worded in the Blood Angels Codex, you can nominate any unit to be from a BA Successor and it replaces the Blood Angels Keyword with the name of your Successor. You play as BA for the purposes of stratagems, detachment abilities, and datasheets. The only downside is that Named Characters can not be nominated (which means their abilities will only affect BA units and not your successor's) and if you want to take relics from Relics of Baal, you have to pay an extra CP via the Honoured By Baal stratagem. 

*'''Sanguinary Guard {{W40kKeyword|Core}}:''' The latest iteration of Sanguinary Guard are 30pts in their cheapest form, which amounts to 120pts stock for the minimum unit. They posses 2W, 3A, Sv2+, and Jump Packs. Each model has Angelic Visage, Heirs of Azkaellon, and the same weapon options as the Sanguinary Ancient.
**They are now genuinely cheaper and more cost effective than Terminators, and only lack an invulnerable save, and access to heavy weapons and thunder hammers. 
**As far as your Elite Jump Pack options go, they fill in a niche of being MEQ-hunting monsters. Your Lightning Claw Vanguards Veterans and Death Company are there for turning W1 models into soup and Vanguard Veterans should be taken with storm shields or thrown in the bin. 
**Heirs of Azkaellon is the real the game-changer for these guys - i.e. they don't need a Chaplain or Captain (or Chapter Master) to help them with a +1 to hit if they're near your Warlord, so you can build a Sanguinary Guard list around assuming you haven't got one, because they get +1 to hit rolls while near your Warlord. Combined with a Jump Lieutenant and a Jump Sanguinary Priest, for example, either of whom can be the Warlord proper, they'll practically speaking have full re-rolls to hit and wound in melee with power fists, and have full re-rolls to hit with re-rolling 1s to wound with their Inferno Pistols. 
**Always remember they now get a -1 to hit in melee for defensive purposes, functionally reducing roughly 15% of all melee attacks that hit them depending on the skill of the attacker. 
**They lack thunder hammers, so throwing them at TEQ units can be a bit of a mixed bag. Also unlike Death Company they hit a cap at 5 attacks so while their glaives and fists are good, they swing less often with them. 

*'''Death Company {{W40kKeyword|Core}}:''' 9th edition has been kind, blessing them with 2W. Death Company function as your high-output melee assaulters and the main users of Black Rage (as a recap; cannot fall back or perform Actions, gains +1A if they heroically intervene or charge, and ignore lost wounds on a 6). 22pts with bolt pistol and chainsword, +3pts for Jump Pack, makes them somewhat cheap but definitely worth the cost. Any number of models can swap their chainswords for power swords, mauls, axes, or fists, and any model can swap their bolt pistol for a hand flamer, inferno pistol, or plasma pistol. Finally, any model can swap BOTH weapons for a thunder hammer. 
** Staggering amount of attack power, but they don't have the Sv2+/Ld9 of the Sanguinary Guard or the storm shield access/Ld8 of the Vanguard Veterans. Chaplains fix the Ld issue and a Sanguinary Priest helps their durability. This is a key point to remember with Death Company; they get ''exponentially'' better when you start stacking other abilities onto them. Otherwise they remain as the glass cannons they are. 
** Compared to the previous edition, they've lost their fearlessness and boltgun access, and they're now capped at 10 models instead of 15. 

*'''Death Company Intercessors {{W40kKeyword|Core}}:''' Apparently, Primaris Marines CAN fall to the Black Rage. Thanks a lot, ''Cawl''. Intercessors with 3A and Black Rage, the entire squad can swap their bolt rifles for auto bolt rifles (which you should at least think about if you're footslogging), stalker bolt rifles (which you should at least think about if you're lobotomised), or a heavy bolt pistol and chainsword (which you should consider the default choice for this unit since it grants +1 attacks per model and AP-1 on all their melee attacks in exchange for slightly reduced shooting). For some reason, GW has to word Wargear options in the most fucking retarded way; one model has access to the Intercessor Sergeant weapon options and one additional model that has a heavy bolt pistol can swap it for a hand flamer or plasma pistol.
** You could stick 8 in a Repulsor with an Apothecary and Ancient. That's 16 wounds all with a 6+++ chance to dodge any D2 weapon hits, plus up to '''56''' attacks on the charge including Assault Doctrine plus usual BA enhancements (Red Thirst, Savage Echoes, etc). Certainly a big overall combo, but should work well centered on the board taking on the brunt of your opponent while everyone else gets into position for charges. 
** DC now have a stratagem to up their FNP to 5+++, which on a 2 wound 24 point model, becomes pretty damn tanky. 

*'''Death Company Dreadnought:''' Your normal Dreadnought but ANGRY (and too angry for being {{W40kKeyword|Core}} I guess). +1A, -1Ld, but gains Black Rage. Two Furioso fists (Sx2, AP-3, D3 (the exact same as a Dreadnought combat arm)) or two blood talons (S+4, AP-2, D3, re-roll failed wound rolls). No mixing fists and talons though. As far as your wrist weapons go, you can have any mix of heavy flamers, meltaguns (maximum 1), or storm bolters (maximum 1). They can swap their Smokescreen Keyword for Magna-Grapples, which has seen a slight change; enemy non-Aircraft Vehicles cannot fall back if you roll 2d6 and score equal to or above their S. At their cheapest, they're 130pts. 
**Roughly speaking, Fists work better than Talons on 4+ saves or higher, but Talons are better on all T7+ after the first fight phase. Which is best overall is down to your local meta.
**These beasts dish out 7 attacks on the charge, 8 on turn three, with dread fists. Considering they can take two heavy flamers and have a 6+++ plus Duty Eternal you realize these are pretty damn good. HOWEVER, they are back to M6" so getting them into combat is always tricky and your opponent will probably blast them with everything they have, thus significantly reducing their usefulness outside of some type of distraction unit. 

*'''Furioso Dreadnought:''' Sadly not {{W40kKeyword|Core}} for no discernible reason. They're a regular Dreadnought that's built for melee as they gain +1A if they have two fists or talons. The same weapon/Smokescreen or magna grapple options as the Death Company Dreadnought, but if they have two Furioso fists, they can swap one for a heavy frag cannon (18", heavy 2d3, S7, AP-1, D2, blast).
** If you're going melee, you may as well spring for Death Company for the charge bonus and 6+++. The only real draw is the frag cannon which can help pip marines and light vehicles, but can't be fired in melee. If you're looking into shootier dreads then Venerable or Ironclad may be the better choice, if more expensive.

*'''Company Champion:''' Not to be slept on, this is a unit many Blood Angels players will have overlooked in the transition to supplement, but which deserves special attention in this army. At his basic profile, he's a not-quite Captain with 4W, 4A, WS2+, a not-quite Storm Shield (5++, +1sv), a master crafted power sword, and some special rules that make him quite formidable in combat- He can heroically intervene within 6" instead of 3", and always fights first. ''For only 55pts.'' But wait- There's more. Upgrade him to Chapter Champion for a mere 15pts, and he gains -1 to hit from melee attacks, wound re-rolls against enemy characters, ''and'' an extra attack. At this point, you may wonder how many more rules we could possibly dump onto a character cheaper than a Lieutenant. How about giving him a warlord trait that grants a 6" re-roll charges aura? 
**This guy couldn't be a better support character for melee footsloggers like Bladeguard, when your Sanguinary Priest and Icon of the Angel carriers are already going to be busy babysitting something else. He's crazy cheap for what he does and occupies an Elite slot, which is very helpful in the restrictive detachment system of 9th.