New 7th Edition Blood Angels Codex Review: HQs and LOWs

Time to talk Blood Angels! I'm a little late to the game because I was focused on building a list for TSHFT (which I'm done with, post to come), so now I'm ready to talk about the new look Son's of Sanguinius. As usual, I’m going to categorize the options as good, average, or poor and explain my reasoning. I'll share “Chaplain Sam’s Choice” at the end of each post. After I get through my FOC reviews I'll share my overall thoughts on the book.



Lords of War

• Commander Dante (Good) – The Chapter Master of the Blood Angels is finally good! Dante is 5 points cheaper and he picked up Eternal Warrior and his AP2 axe strikes at his initiative 6 now. Score! He still has Hit & Run and he has the Descent of Angels warlord trait (reroll unit reserve roll and only scatter D6). I'm not a huge fan of Lords of War (LoWs) because they don't fulfill the HQ requirement, but for a LoW Dante is pretty good.
• Chapter Master Gabriel Seth (Average) - Seth is decent beat stick and he's also the cheapest Lord of War I can think of at only 155 points. He puts out a ton of high strength rending attacks. His Blood Reaver is Sx2 and he has furious charge. He has 4 attacks base, plus 1 for having two close combat weapons,  plus 2 on the charge (rage), plus D3 if he's in a combat where his unit is outnumbered (Red Rampage). On top of that, any to-hit rolls of 6 generate an additional hit. Statistically, if he's outnumbered you're looking at 9 strength 9 attacks with rending, plus extra hits for any to-hit rolls of 6. That's no joke! I still wish he could take a jump pack and he's not an Eternal Warrior, but for 155 points I'll live. He's still one of my favorite Blood Angels/Flesh Tearers units. He's just competitive enough to hold his own in friendly games!

Good

• Astorath the Grim – In my last Blood Angels review I said, "Astorath is just prohibitively expensive for what he brings to the table." Well a 55 point decrease sure helps with that! His stats are the same, but now his axe causes instant death on a to-wound roll of a 6. It's still unwieldy unfortunately. What makes him so attractive is he is now the only source of both Zealot and Liturgies of Blood - meaning he gives Death Company rerolls to-hit and to-wound. This is a huge deal because, as we'll cover in a few posts, the new look Death Company are quite good!
• Sanguinary Priest - Priests are now HQs and only one can be taken per slot (instead of 1-3). A lot of people are upset about the move, but I personally like it. I think 2 priests is plenty and I love being able to fulfill my HQ requirement with a unit I would likely bring anyway. Priests just became my go-to cheap HQ option. They give Feel No Pain (FNP) and +1 WS to their units, instead of FNP all units within 6 inches. A bit of a nerf, but they are still very useful. They can be kitted out to do whatever you want, much like a captain (combi-melta, fists, bikes, jump packs, etc.). That includes the new Relics of Baal. AP2 sword that strikes at initiative anyone? Yes please.

Average

• Mephiston, Lord of Death– Mephiston received a colossal 75 point decrease in cost and he gained Independent Character! He's stats got toned down so he's no longer a mini Daemon Prince, but he's still S5 T5 W3 I5 A4. Not too bad, though losing two wounds hurts. He's still mastery level 3 and he can cast Sanguine Sword on himself to boost himself up to strength 10. I wish he picked up some way to make himself AP2, but oh well. I think the biggest issue with Mephiston is he's slow but he really wants to be in combat. There isn't really a great unit to put him in. He'll slow down anything with jump packs and he doesn't buff Death Company like other choices do. He'll be a little awkward to play now, but he's still a beast and he's fairly cheap for what he brings to the table.
• Librarian– Another big points drop to bring BA in line with Codex: Space Marines. Librarians are 35 points cheaper now. That means they are still a safe and economical option. I'm still not a big believer in Blood Angel Librarians because they will just get dominated by psycher-heavy armies. The problem is that with so few warp charges he isn't likely to get his powers off when other armies create so many more warp charges. But just being super cheap and bringing a few extra dice to throw at Deny the Witch rolls is helpful.
• Chaplain - I couldn't decide where to put Chaplains. They probably belong somewhere in between average and poor, because they certainly aren't as good as the Lord of Death. Chaplains are very similar to Captains, just with one less wound and attack and a lower initiative. In exchange they pick up Zealot, which let's their units reroll to-hit rolls, and a Crozius Arcanum (Sx2 AP4 melee weapon). Not bad for 90 points. You can kit them out pretty much however you want too. The issue is I'll never choose a Chaplain over Astorath and if I want something cheap I'll take a Priest.
• Brother Corbulo - Well... we all saw this one coming I suppose. I admit that a 2+ FNP was pretty ridiculous, but that doesn't mean I won't miss it! Corbs is actually 15 points more expensive and he was nerfed. He gives units within 6 inches +1 WS and +1 initiative and his own unit FNP. He still has his fancy reroll, but now it's limited to the seize roll, reserve rolls, hit/wound rolls, and scatter rolls. Corbulo is more of a force multiplier than he brother Priests, as his WS and initiative bonus applies all units within 6 inches, but I think he's still on the expensive side for what he brings to the table. Plus, this bugger still can't take a blasted jump pack!
• Captain – Captains use to be one of my favorite HQs, much to the confusion of some readers (you know who you are). Sure Captains aren't force multipliers, but they are cheap and durable. Captains are 10 points cheaper now, but there are other options that are significantly cheaper and better force multipliers, like Priests. That's means Captain's don't have a great role anymore and are no longer one of my go-to choices. Edit - Jolemai pointed out that Captains can be kitted out to be pretty solid combat beasts with Artificer Armor and the AP2 relic blade that swings at initiative. Realizing I've been a bit harsh on the ol' Captain and since I like these posts to be sort of a community affair, I've moved him to Average. Thanks for the input guys!

Poor

• Captain Tycho – Tycho lost his swagger in the new codex. Granted, he's 45 points cheaper, but he doesn't have Special Issue Ammunition anymore. He used to let all other Blood Angel units use his leadership for leadership and morale tests, lost that too. Perhaps most tragic, he lost his pimp hand. He used to flat out ignore armor saves!  Now he's essentially a standard Captain that hates Orks and has a fancy combi-melta... for 35 points more than a normal Captain. Pass, thanks.
• Tycho the Lost– DC Tycho actual took quite a boost. He's 30 points cheaper and gained Independent Character. Before he had to walk around the board alone and was completely useless. He has Feel No Pain, Rage and Relentless, but he still kind of stinks because he has to run with a Death Company unit but he doesn't buff them in anyway. He also lost all the things mentioned above. He's better than Golden Tycho, but still not very good.
• Librarian Dreadnought - I understand that Librarians should be HQs, but Dreadnoughts are generally pretty easy to kill so when it's your HQ choice it becomes a really easy target for First Blood and/or Slay the Warlord. Libby-noughts used to be able to hop around the board with Wings of Sanguinius so they could get into combat, but they can't do that anymore. They just have an odd combination of strengths, weaknesses and abilities. 
• The Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host– "Awesome model. Total beast in combat. Can't join a unit. Upsettingly expensive. Don't take him." - That's what I said that last time I reviewed the Sanguinor and it still applies. He lost his sergeant buff, his invulnerable save is now 4+ instead of 3+, and he rerolls to-wounds and to-hits in all challenges now instead of against a chosen character. He also has a 12" fearless bubble and adds 1 attack to models within 6 inches. Like Mephiston, he's 75 points cheaper, unlike Mephiston, he's still not an Independent Character and that is really his downfall. A 200 points beat stick that can't join a unit really has to be super durable. Unfortunately, even with Eternal Warrior and a 2+/4++ save, the Sanguinor is pretty easy to take out.
• Techmarine - What an odd HQ choice. They are the cheapest HQ in the book and they come with a 2+ save and a pseudo power fist, but they don't really do anything for the army except try to repair vehicles. They only have 1 wound too... move along.

Chaplain Sam’s Choice: Astorath the Grim. I think Death Company are among the best units in the codex and a freshly discounted Astorath takes them to the next level.