Image by Malkavian7515
Recently, I read Jawaballs post on Bell of Lost Souls and I wans't too impressed. Now, don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Jawaballs, his painting tips were of great help to me in developing many key skills, and I hope to interview him in the near future for this blog. But I thought a lot of his thoughts fell far from the tree, so I felt I might go and discuss some of things he mentioned that struck me. You might want to read his article before reading this one, so you can follow along!
Firstly, I feel normal Blood Angels should have neither fleet, nor assault ramps on their rhinos. Fleet is the domain of Shrike from the Codex Marines while assault ramps for rhinos would be pretty hugely overpowered as a general rule. The same goes for drop pods.
I could however see fleet as a rule for Death Company, and this would generally be awesomesauce. But Assault ramps on Rhinos? Assault ramps should remain the sole domain of the Land Raider.
I agree in boosting the size of Terminator squads from 5-10. But would be against any attempt for a special character who made Terminators troops choices, as I feel this is the domain of the Dark Angels/Space Wolves.
I also agree with Jawaballs that stormshields should be upped to the standard 5th ed 3+ invun, I also feel this is pretty much assured. I'd expect their points cost to fall in line with the points costs in Space Wolves though. I think the games designers relized they undercosted storm shields in Codex Space Marines. Especially for Terminator Assault Squads. I'd expect to see the upgrade from lightning claws to Thunderhammer/stormshields to be an upgrade you need to pay for a Blood Angel, and not a free swap.
The change to the new ballistic skill Power of the Machine Spirit is something I feel is inevitable as well.
I dont think Blood Angels need, nor should receive any special Land Raider variant, and I feel if their vehicles all get overcharged engines, they should operate with a negative incentive, like a Lemun Russ If you move over 6inches, you move 6+2d6, to represent the fact your overcharged engines might stall on you. (without Over Charged Engines being a compulsary option)
jawaballs expresses a desire to be able to select 5 to 10 marines, in 1 marine incraments. I agree and would also express what I feel to be the inevitability of this happening. I think its more a holdover from 3rd/4th edition that they can't currently. Tho I have never seen a non Space Wolf player field any number except 5 or 10.
I would expect Blood Angels to keep the Combat squads rule as well. Keep in mind, they are still a codex chapter! They are just slightly divergent. They will no doubt replace combat tactics with something else, however I can't speculate as to what they might be. Furious charge might be a decent bet, tho.
I would expext Assault Marines to be Fast Attack or Troops, dependant on how you kit out your HQ. (Probably if your commander has a Jump pack then jump pack fast attack count as troops), tho I imagine Vanguard (if Blood Angels get them) will remain Fast Attack regardless. (And probably remain just as terrible).
I also agree that the heavy flamers on the Baal class Predator (Currently its sponson weapons) need to be changed, but I imagine this variant will either be ignored or phased out, anyway (Not the ball, the version with heavy flamers), especially given the changes to defensive weapons! (This variant is basically worthless in 5th ed)
Corbulo deserves a power weapon as Jawaballs says, Dante will be changed however. (I certainly hope the model will as well!) I expect to see a terminator armor variant, this seems to be all the rage for special character now. Mephiston should not have a invun save, Librarians just gotta suck up not having one, nobody else does! You gotta have some drawback. I'd enjoy seeing the Death Company dreadnought making a return as well, perhaps with fleet, or the ability to heroic intervene.
In conclusion, I think that jawaballs wish list is really out there, and I dont feel most of what he wants is justifiable. I think he's considering too much from the prospective o what's good for his army, and of wanting his force to always win, and isn't considering what will make it balanced. His suggestions would you leave you with a very fluffy, but massively overpowered, battleforce.
All in all, stick to painting Jawa! You're one of the best out there, but I don't think you're ready for Game Development just yet!
Peace out and happy gaming!
Roleplayer
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