All Space Marines are figures of awe and reverence to the common Imperial citizen, the God-Emperor’s angels made manifest, but even among their hallowed kind, there are some that stand above for their glorious deeds. These are the seraphic saviours of the Imperium Nihilus, clad in deep red and gleaming gold, but unbeknownst to all but a few, a dark and bloody curse runs deep within their veins – one that threatens to drown their illustrious legacy in madness and death.
They are the Blood Angels, the sons of the Great Angel, and no warrior living nor dead can match their righteous ferocity.
Here’s everything you need to know if you’re thinking of starting an army of these blood-soaked super-soldiers.
Blood Angels 101
The Blood Angels are a unique Chapter who field a blend of regular Space Marine units and exclusive characters and squads. We recommend reading Starting a Space Marine Army to understand the core options available to a Blood Angels general.
Blood Angels Explained
The Blood Angels are mighty warriors enhanced by arcane science and poorly-understood genetic technology – transforming mortal initiates into demigods operating far beyond the limit of human ability. They are one of the hallowed First Founding Chapters, those whose lineage traces directly back to the Primarchs who fought beside the Emperor in the Horus Heresy.
They hail from the planet Baal in the shrouded half of the Imperium cut off from Terra by the Great Rift, and suffered greatly at the hands of both daemons and Tyranids at the turn of the millennium. In a cataclysmic event known as the Devastation of Baal, a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan nearly consumed their homeworld – 26 full Successor Chapters (those who owe their genetic lineage to the Blood Angels) were called to its defence, leading to the single greatest loss of Space Marine life in millennia.
The intervention of the Indomitus Crusade saved the system from certain destruction, and allowed the sons of Sanguinius to rebuild and once again campaign across the stars to relieve the blighted half of the Imperium.
Unlike many other Space Marine Chapters, the Blood Angels value the arts almost as much as their martial skill. Alas, for all their outward nobility and honour, they are also afflicted by the dreadful curse known simply as the Flaw. It is a twin threat, leaving every brother vulnerable to the afflictions known as the Red Thirst and the Black Rage.
The Blood Angels have an especially strong bond with their lost Primarch, whose experiences are encoded into their gene‐seed, and no memory is more powerful than that of his last duel with the Warmaster Horus. During this fight, Sanguinius was struck so terrible a blow that it wounded his very soul, resounding through the spirits of his scions even into the 41st Millennium.
The Black Rage is a Blood Angel’s doom. A warrior in the grip of this all-consuming fury no longer has any awareness of who or where he is, believing himself to be Sanguinius in his final hours, refighting the horrific battles of the Horus Heresy. Brothers consumed in such a way on the eve of battle are inducted into the Death Company, readied to one final battle in their Primarch’s name.
By contrast, the Red Thirst is a temporary affliction, though still a deep-seated stain on the Chapter’s soul. Within the psyche of every Blood Angel is a destructive blood‐hunger that haunts their every waking moment and aches to be unleashed without restraint, and one that must be held at bay.
They commonly yield to this Red Thirst in the heat of battle, though to succumb to it is a mark of shame in any but the direst of circumstances, where victory can only be achieved with ferocious savagery. As a last resort, the Blood Angels choose to unleash it as a weapon under the careful guidance of the Sanguinary Priests.
The Blood Angels have a greater focus on close combat than many Space Marine Chapters. The Sanguinary Guard and Death Company, in particular, prefer a swirling melee to a gunfight. They are also one of the quicker Space Marine armies, with many units equipped with jump packs troops to close with the enemy quickly.
Make no mistake, despite their preference for close combat, Blood Angels are no less deadly at range – and like most Space Marines, can still out-shoot the vast majority of their enemies with powerful vehicles and gunfire.
Combat Patrol
Combat Patrol is a game mode perfect for beginners and veterans alike. In it, bite-sized forces clash in fast-paced and finely balanced games. The Blood Angels bring an elite force of durable infantry to the game, and the focus is on brutal close combat.
The shining brethren of the Sanguinary Guard are the headliners, two units of three fast and powerful assault troops who soar across the battlefield to give their opponent’s best troops a good hiding. Their sudden attack is followed up by 10 Assault Intercessors and a Blood Angels Captain.
Like their regular Space Marine counterparts, the Blood Angels swear an Oath of Moment each turn to focus their ire on one particular enemy unit, while the Stratagems and Enhancements emphasise getting into close combat quickly with movement boosts and close-quarters objectives.
All you need to deploy the Sanguinary Spearhead is a few dice, a ruler, and the downloadable rules below – the Core Rules show you how to play the game, the Combat Patrol Datasheets provide a balanced army that’s ready to play, and the Combat Patrol Missions give you some thrilling objectives to fight over!
Painting
As their name would suggest, the Blood Angels primarily wear deep red armour, which gives them a striking look against the blasted grey cityscapes and grim battlefields of the far future. They contrast this with the bright gold of their elite troops – most notably the Sanguinary Guard – and the sombre black of the Death Company, and this colour trifecta can be used across the range to pick out details where needed.
This also means that you can paint almost your entire army with the same handful of colours, and the experts at Citadel Colour have come up with a list of recommended paints that’ll set you on the right track.
This relatively simple colour scheme means the Blood Angels are a great army to start your painting journey with, as getting the majority of your troops up to a Battle Ready standard is relatively quick, while the rich golds are a great place to practise more advanced techniques.
Next Steps
Once you’ve played your first few Combat Patrol games and have a taste for the 41st Millennium, you may be wondering: “Where do I go next?”
First off, you’ll want to pick up Codex Supplement: Blood Angels, and if you haven’t already, a copy of Codex: Space Marines. As a Codex Supplement, the Blood Angels book expands on the full Codex with additional background lore and comprehensive rules for 15 unique units, to go alongside the dozens available to all Space Marine armies.
The core of your army will be composed largely of units from Codex: Space Marines. For ideas on what to add to your existing troops, we recommend our guide to starting a Space Marine army.
The Blood Angels are particularly known for their legendary heroes, and none exemplify this better than the current Chapter Master, Commander Dante. He is both a peerless warrior and tactician – and is so highly regarded that he was named Lord Regent of the Imperium Nihilus by Roboute Guilliman. He is everything the Blood Angels strive to be: fast, deadly, and irrepressibly noble.
The identity of the mysterious Sanguinor is unknown; he descends during the Chapter’s most dire moments to slaughter enemy champions and give hope to all who behold his gleaming death mask. Sanguinary Priests, meanwhile, are the everyday heroes who keep their comrades hale and hearty, while also leading them in many of the Chapter’s rituals.
Those once-honourable warriors who fall to the Black Rage on the eve of battle and are inducted into the Death Company become berserker juggernauts who stop at nothing to tear their foes limb from limb, shrugging off horrendous wounds as they plunge into the fray. They are an unsubtle unit that does its job extremely well, as a horde of blood-crazed Space Marines simply cannot be ignored and will often distract an opponent from your more elite units.
Only one Blood Angel has ever truly beaten the Black Rage – Chief Librarian Mephiston – and he returned commanding psychic powers on a level far beyond that of a normal Librarian. For most others, their fate is either to fall in combat or be granted blessed relief at the headsman's axe, a duty that High Chaplain Astorath carries out with grim efficiency.
Fiction
Much like their cousins in the Dark Angels, the Blood Angels have many Black Library books that follow their exploits, as befits one of the most well-known and highly regarded Chapters in the Imperium. The Blood Angels omnibus by James Swallow is the perfect place to start, as it explores the many trials and tribulations of the Chapter as they strive to uphold the honour of their Primarch in the face of his supposed rebirth.
You can then spread out into the myriad tales of their many heroes, with Dante himself starring in the eponymous novel by Guy Haley that sets the stage for much of the Chapter’s recent history. The story continues following the Devastation of Baal with Astorath: Angel of Mercy, by Guy Haley, as the High Chaplain discovers a Successor Chapter on the brink of destruction and gripped by the Black Rage.
Mephiston searches for the truth behind his victory over the Black Rage in Blood of Sanguinius by Darius Hinks, an epic tale set within the fires of a religious civil war. This novel is the first in a series of four about the Chief Librarian, which delve ever deeper into the Chapter’s inner mysteries.
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