New Blood Angels are in!

So we all know the advanced orders are up. It was one of the best Mondays I have had in awhile :)

I have yet to see the codex in person,and it is killing me, lol. I need to see if the FLGS has their black box yet, and get in to see it. I am way excited about it though.

I am stoked to get into the book and start list building. It will start with all the fluffy, super-cool units and characters. I will have a few dreadnoughts in there, most likely at least one librarian dread. I will think I have the uber list, and I am sure I won't. It will be a process to get my list refined and tuned so be as deadly as possible. But the journey with a list is most of the fun.

Who knows what the dominant list type will be? There are a few archetypes that have been floating around in my head and the internet. Not that the two coincide, but here are some of my ideas.

1. Mephiston centered lists. This guy looks to be a CC beast. I will make and play a list with him for sure, and other will do so as well. If the non-IC thing is real, then delivery modes will be hard to come by. He won't warrant his own LR. He can't join in with other squads in Rhino/Razorbacks, and won't join footslogging units to hide him from fire. He will have to be bubble wrapped to prevent him from dying while crossing the board. And marines don't have any cheap bubble wrap, unless you are inducting IG. Who knows where this list will go.

2. Stormraven spam armies. I don't know the points cost for this guy, but again, I want to spam it. Don't know if it is a dedicated transport or a heavy choice, so I don't know how many will fit into a list. But the lists will appear and be played, despite the lack of a model. I know I'll be proxying Rhinos to start.

3. Dante deepstrike lists. I love to deepstrike, even though it is less than optimal in most cases. I just like the variability of it. When you stick the landing in the perfect spot it makes for a really fun game. It is too unreliable most of the time, but Dante fixes that. Apparently he doesn't scatter on a deepstrike. Granted you still have to rely on reserve rolls to get him in play, but most of the danger of the deepstrike is mitigated by his rule. Just imagine him droppping down with 30 death company, wherever he wants. Its ridiculous. With a model footprint that large, just imagine the amount of multicharges you could get. Upgrade the unit with Lemartes, and add in a Librarian for an added cover save from the incoming shooting you will get. It's gotta be a points sink, but loads of fun in my opinion.

4. Land Raider deepstrike. I don't imagine this will fare too well in the melta heavy environment that is 5th ed, but who doesn't at least want to try this out? Who doesn't want to drop some Land Raider Redeemers into enemy lines and melt faces? Don't forget you can still fire one weapon because of Power of the Machine Spirit after landing. Use the multi-melta to pop that Leman Russ, or chew up some Orks with your hurricane bolters or assault cannon. Or you could pop smoke to prevent some of the incoming damage from shooting. Then disgorge your termies or whatever other assault unit packed inside to chew up everything around it. Sounds like win to me!

5. My last entry is an all jump-pack army. I don't see the real merits of this incarnation, but I'm sure I will see it on the gaming board or on the interwebs. I've read that lots of people enjoy jump troops, but you will have a hard time convincing me it is as effective as a mechanized army. AP2 blasts will ruin your day, along with any AP3 or less weapons. This guy will show up, but I don't think it will last very long.

That's all I have for now. Granted those are really open-ended ideas with some wriggle room, but I'm sure you all get my point. Some other things you may see are triple flamestorm Baals, 8+ dreadnought builds, and librarian heavy builds. With the preponderance of cover saves in 5th, fast moving predators with Marine killing flamers are very attractive. Add in the sponson heavy flamers and you have some serious face melting going on. Who doesn't love armor 13 furioso dreads? Only the people being stomped on by them is all. Expect to see them in full force. I'm not sold entirely on the psychic powers, but I just need to see them in person to wrap my head around them all the way.

I'll start posting some more concrete list ideas when I have a tangible codex in hand and the points values. Until then, I'll just be dreaming in Blood Red each night . . .