Sanguinary Guard Project Part III * Captain Mortalis

Captain Mortalis
Captain Mortalis leads the Blood Saints Second Company and is an expert in the art of extreme jump warfare. On a few seldom occasions the Chapter Master will call upon Mortalis to lead his Sanguinary Guard into battle for protracted durations operating behind the enemy lines. Captain Mortalis is an expert at guerrilla tactics launching lightning quick assaults into the rear of enemy formations to turn a battle or break the foes' will by destroying a key unit. Captain Mortalis is the only member of the Chapter to have served as long as the Chapter Master and as such wears an ancient venerated suit of artificer armor that was crafted back before the days of the dark heresy. His armor is fitted with a tiny golden chalice that holds one rare drop of blood from Sanguinius. As such his armor is impervious to attacks which would utterly render other suits and is sometimes whispered to grant eternal life.

Captain Mortalis was the first Initiate selected for his Chapter's Sanguinary Guard. During the Battle of Everlong only Mortalis and one other Initiate returned. The following saga was found carved into the trunk of the Eternal Tree some years later which was duly recorded and is believed to have been left behind by Captain Mortalis in tribute to the three who died...

King god of southern clime
Greatest creature so divine
Sends for watching land below
Ravens fly for him to know

Took off from a greater tree
Higher, higher flying free
Sounds of thunder in the sky
Up above three ravens fly

In our time, ravens three
Passing over you and me
Whisper to their only master
What to come before and after

Shadow casted snowy ground
Shape of ravens might be found
At his head ravens rest
Stranger silent as his guest

Words for ear of ancient god
Carried home by wings so proud
Stare at the sky as evening come
Sky is dark and ravens gone

Sanguinary Guard Project Part II * Bellum Aquila

Bellum Aquila
Bellum's name is an honor bestowed upon him by the Chapter Master and literally means War Hawk. Bellum had succumbed to the Black Rage, which is very rare for the Blood Saints. On the eve of battle while the Death Company Chaplain was preparing his lost brothers for war Bellum had a vision of a peaceful angel clad in glowing golden robes whom whispered muted prayers to him freeing the War Hawk from the dark curse. Bellum is gifted with an extremely high pitched piercing war cry that is amplified by his helmet and forces the enemy to cover their ears or suffer a momentary loss of hearing. Several times Bellum has been called upon to lead the Sanguinary Guard into battle when they are not serving as a retinue for the Chapter Master. All attacks lead by Bellum are swift and crushing. Under his command the Sanguinary Guard are often called upon to assassinate the enemy commander, which they will do by dropping in from a low flying thunderhawk. Bellum carries the squad's other ancient infernus pistol and is also a crack shot. Many unfortunate tanks have been breached by the War Hawk's fickle shot so that his squad can quickly come to grips with the enemy within and finish them.

Sanguinary Guard Project Part I * Initiate Androcles

This is the background for my Blood Angels successor Chapter's (i.e., the Blood Saints) Sanguinary Guard. The Sanguinary Guard are a separate formation taken from the Chapter's best veterans, tracing their origins all the way back to Sanguinus' personal bodyguard and is composed of the uttermost elite of the Blood Angels.

Even among the most vaunted veterans of the Chapter, these are warriors that stand above their brothers in might of arms and sheer skill. These are the Sanguinary Guard, an inner order of the Blood Angels that traces its origins to the days of the Great Crusade, when they served as their Primarch's own personal bodyguard, and even accompanied Sanguinius when he, the Emperor, and Rogal Dorn confronted Horus in the arch traitor's battle barge. Clad in golden Artificer Armour and armed with wrist mounted Angelus Bolters, they charge into battle wielding Glaives Encarmine, ancient master crafted power weapons of terrible power.

All Chapters descended from the Blood Angels maintain units of Sanguinary Guard as a legacy to their Legion's grandest tradition. The Sanguinary Guard are the uttermost elite of the Blood Angels' veterans, proven in mind, body and spirit, exemplifying the values of their Primarch Sanguinius to an extent no other Space Marine can.

Only a single survivor remained of the Legion's original force - Azkaellon, Herald of the Primarch, and only because Sanguinius insisted that he remain on Terra. It was on his shoulders that the heavy burden befell the reconstitution of the Order, to serve as a beacon of hope for the dark days that lay ahead. It is largely through his efforts that the legacy of the Sanguinary Guard survived in the Blood Angels, and spread to all its Successors.

Initiate Androcles

Androcles was born a mute but was gifted with telepathy. The homeworld of the Blood Saints is well guarded against the Black Ships of Terra and as such Androcles was protected at an early age due to his special gift.

The Blood Saints learned of the child due to some of his early amazing feats and kept a close watch on him thereafter. Upon induction into the Chapter no special exceptions were made for Brother Androcles. He was able to pass the hardest trials required of all young recruits under the watchful eyes of the Chapter's Librarians.

Great things were expected of Androcles and he quickly moved up the ranks from scout to tactical Marine. During the battle of Argosfel Brother Androcels single handedly picked off a squad of Ork Nobs with his sniper rifle, first targeting the furthest and quickly working his way through their rank so that none of the brutes ever realized they were under fire.

He spent a short period following his service as a tactical Marine training as an assault Marine and saw brief combat in several boarding actions in space versus the Black Legion. 

Brother Androcles was then chosen to join the rank of his chapter's Sanguinary Guard where he still remains. Androcles was given an ancient infernus pistol due to his crackshot ability to quickly find weak points that can be exploited.

While he is gifted with an extraordinary shot Brother Androcles is also a fierce warrior and well versed with the Glaive Encarmine. Androcles is a silent figure in battle and a true Angel of Death to behold. He keeps his distance from his battle brothers but is never lacking in courage or fortitude.

Blood Saints Sanguinary Guard Project

I got the pictures back this afternoon. They look awesome. Cropped them in Photoshop and saved them to a folder on my Mac. Unfortunately it appears the external modem I use to connect to the Internet is fried. I was unable to connect unfortunately. I will be bringing my Mac with me while I'm away on a business trip this week and connect to the Internet in the hotel tomorrow evening so I can post the article. I've written some background material for each of the Initiates as well which I'll post with the pictures.

The photos came out great. I can't wait to get them up on the Internet and see what everyone has to say. Sorry for the delay... We are almost there now.

: )

G

On the subject of kill points versus victory points...

Okay here is my take on this current and hotly debated topic of intense discussion. Kill points are a new concept that were introduced in 5th edition. The purpose of kill points is to balance out the other two rulebook missions (i.e., Capture and Control, Seize Ground) such that armies composed of many small units (MSU) do not have an unfair advantage. Basically if you are playing a pickup game with your buddy you roll for a mission and deployment from the rulebook. Capture and Control is often referred to as the drawfest mission... There are only two objectives, one placed in each deployment zone. It's very easy to play for a draw and if you play to win it easily could cost you the game. Seize Ground has between 3-5 objectives and this seems to be the most popular mission from the rulebook. Annihilation is the kill points mission and the one that is currently drawing lots of attention on yee old blogosphere. Personally I love kill point missions as you don't have to worry about protecting your scoring units - it really changes the way you play and is the most free flowing of the three, so to me it's the most fun because it's all about utter carnage. Now there are some people who really hate kill points, even to the extent of advocating not using them or modifying them by limiting their amount. Stelek advocates the use of only five kill points per army; for example, you choose three from your army and your opponent picks another two. To me that defeats the purpose of kill points - a crafty player might decide to hold some of these units in reserve in order to keep them off the table as long as possible. Is that fun? Heck no! I remember playing at a GT last year where one mission killpoints were determined by how many points were tied into a unit and this unit could not arrive until later in the game. I had to go first and my opponent's kill point unit didn't show up until the very last turn so there was no way I could destroy it - epic fail as a mission, I put the blame on the TOs not my opponent as there was nothing he could do to prevent that from happening other than roll higher for this unit in reserve. :  (

So there are certain TOs that are strongly advocating the use of victory points over kill points, claiming this is more fair to everyone. Is that true? I don't think so. Let's look at the critically acclaimed NOVA Open which used victory points over kill points... The thing is MSU armies excel in missions decided by victory points while they are at a clear disadvantage when playing kill point missions. MSU style SM/SW armies rampaged at the NOVA Open and no one can deny that fact. MSU armies naturally give up a lot of kill points and their cheap transports suddenly become a liability. To me that is a good thing as there should be a balance between missions when playing in a tournament. It forces people to think harder about what type of list they will bring. If everyone knows in advance that the missions will use victory points then you are going to see lots and lots of MSU armies there. That's just the way it is.

The 5th edition rulebook recommends using victory points as a tie breaker but do not use it as a primary objective in any of the three missions. So the use of victory points as anything other than a tie breaker takes the game back to third and fourth edition... To me that is a bad thing. Kill points are there for balance, without them you'll see lots of MSU armies - this is proven. I've heard lots of counters as to why victory points are a great thing for 5th edition but it all sounds like baloney to me. Some people that are pro victory points say that small elite armies have an advantage in kill points because they have less to give and I think this is why Stelek advocates only up to 5 per army. The thing is victory points allows you to design an army that denies them - for those of you that have played the game long enough you'll remember the much hated tri falcon eldar armies... The three falcons moved flat-out along the table all game long with very expensive units inside and you had to roll a 5 and a 6 on the armor penetration table to bring down a falcon due to their holofields. This was very much so unfun. I think if victory points become very popular again you will end up seeing more of these victory points denial armies. They are not fun to play against and require less skill to win... But isn't that what some people want - armies that are very easy to win games. Hey don't get me wrong, I'm not saying MSU armies and victory points denial armies are necessarily a bad thing but why design all missions to help these types of armies? I think as I've already said there should be balance between missions. That should be the goal of a great TO.

It's also important to remember that a large percentage of the Internet audience is relatively new to the game; therefore due to their lack of prior knowledge of the game's history this lack of knowledge might possibly make it easier for them to be easily swayed by the arguments in favor of victory points. One problem I've always had with victory points is that unfortunately it's hard to keep a dishonest person straight when it comes to reporting how many victory points they actually conceded. This can be a real problem. I even heard of one player at a recent GT using two different army lists - that right there in my mind is immediate grounds for disqualification. With kill points you know exactly what you killed so it's very easy... This is not the case with victory points though as already noted above.

G

Project Sanguinary Guard

Had the photo shoot this afternoon over by the coast. Should have the article out tomorrow afternoon or early evening.

G

Overlord

The undying embrace of chaos and war
As the oppressed lie writhing down on the floor
This Babylon of fear that you shall know
To rule and suppress, destroy and overthrow

Kings of this world
The servants shall serve
Slaves never free
Kings of this world all thats to be
All that you hear and all that you see

I am your overlord
Everything above and below
I am your overlord
The exodus of your will and
All that you'll ever know

This brotherhood of snakes shall
Rule and control
The corruption of man his fate
And his soul

This flame of black which burns
So bright
For the slaves shall never see
The apocalyptic end of the past
The new world shall forever be

The great conspiracy
The betrayal of god
The fires of revolution
Aimed at the heavens above

Berserkers

Smokin', trippin', drinkin', never thinkin' what's to be
Another day, another war has come to set me free
The cage is broke, the tank is full, it's where the violence rules
Drinkin' booze and raisin' rifles, hell straight through and through


A never ending rolling nightmare with no end in sight
I start to drink, get high and smashed, it gets me feeling right
The cage is broke, the tank is full, it's where the violence rules
Drinkin' booze and raisin' rifles, hell straight through and through


Drinkin', pukin', pissin', and fightin'
Startin' all over again
Drinkin', pukin', pissin', and fightin'
Startin' all over again
Drinkin', pukin', pissin', and fightin'
Startin' all over again
Drinkin', pukin', pissin', and fightin'
Startin' all over again


Where I go and where I rise, I couldn't give a damn
Another shot, another beer, is all that I have planned

The cage is broke, the tank is full, it's where the violence rules

A sample mission for Bolter Beach II • Battle for the Sun Coast

This is a sample mission for the upcoming Bolter Beach II 40k GT that will be held in Sarasota, Florida the last weekend of January 2011. This the type of mission you could expect at the end of the first day or during the second day.

We have worked on streamlining our new missions but want them to still be challenging. One of our goals is to design missions that don't favor or disfavor any specific type of army. We are using the W/L format from the NOVA Open with a primary win condition and a set of three tie breakers for each mission. There will be a number of rounds based upon the number of players such that there is one undefeated player at the end of the second day who will be crowned best overall champion. Players will be split into two groups on the second day - one group will consist of the undefeated players from day one and the second group will be everyone else. There also will be an award for the player in the second group that finishes with the best record in that group. Splitting the players into two groups is being borrowed from BoLScon.

Congratulations to Paul Murphy on being #1 !!!

It won't last forever but its always nice.

...

-

Rankings HQ & BoLScon results resolved

Rankings HQ has added the results from BoLScon to their database.

Unfortunately they did not receive the data until this week which caused the delay. It's all good now though.

:-)

G

G

This week

This week I will post my gallery of fluff for my Sanguinary Guard along with pictures and background for each battle brother. I am currently working on my Librarian who will be my main HQ as he fits in well with my background. This will mark an end to my current work with Blood Angels for now. My next project will be a standard Blood Angels company.

My next current project will see me returning to Tyranids. The release of the new Dark Eldar will see an end to the current reign of mech. Dark eldar will be a highly mobile army that can destroy armor with ease and then engulf their opponents in brutal close combat. Expect to see some new special characters that will allow you to play specialized cults such as wyches.

G

An ultimate Blood Angels assault unit

So I have been thinking what is the best to run both a generic Librarian with an Honor Guard. You have lots of choices with both of these units. To me I always want to go in one direction. A Librarian and Honor Guard are best as an assault unit. Sure you can kit them to be great tank hunters with Blood Lance and meltaguns so there is that but you have many other choices that also fulfill this role and can perform this function at range. If you design a unit to fulfill multiple roles it will be lesser in any one role. Look at the Sanguinor or Mephiston as an example how their rules work - they are both dedicated for assault and that is what makes them so powerful. So following this line of thought here is my creation:

Librarian/Epistolary, Sanguine Sword, Unleash Rage,jump pack

Purely a heavy hitter in close combat and can cast both psychic powers when you need them. His major weakness is lack of an invulnerable save plus anti psyker defense can shut him down. You want him to synergize with his Honor Guard (jump packs and banner):

Novitiate
Veteran #1: pair of lightning claws
Veteran #2: lightning claw & stormshield
Veteran #3: lightning claw & stormshield
Veteran #4: thunderhammer & stormshield

Preferably this unit is charging out of a Stormraven with +1A and rerolling hits. The Librarian is there to kill thunderwolves and walkers with the thunderhammer for backup. The rest of the crew is there to soak up damage and shred large numbers. That's his it works.

G

Just running two troops

I have found that in 5ed I tend to just run two troop choices. I like really hard hitting troops. My Khornate daemon list features two squads of 15 Bloodletters and my current Blood Angels jump list features a full assault squad and one squad of Sanguinary Guard (Dante for an HQ). I see that most players like to run more - typically anywhere from three to five typically. I am comfortable with only two and if I feel hard pressed with my Blood Angels I can always combat squad the assault Marines. The way I look at it if you are playing rulebook missions there is only one mission that features more than two objectives. Obviously this is not always the case with home grown missions at tournaments. The only major drawback I see to running two troops is that it's going to be hard to massacre for missions that feature three or more objectives as the primary goal. The good thing for me and my philosophy is that some people are now advocating the use of W/L versus W/L/D; i.e., massacring could become a relic.

Nayaran

If you believe the western sun is falling down on everyone
If you break it free and the mornings come
If you would now your time has come
If you believe the western sun is falling down on everyone
And you feel it burn, dont try to run
And you feel it burn, your time has come

And I feel it
You feel another energy and I feel a power growing
You feel another energy and I feel a power grow
You feel another energy and I feel a power grow

If you believe the western sun is falling down on everyone
If you break it free and the mornings come
If you would now your time has come
If you believe the western sun is falling down on everyone
And you feel it burn, dont try to run
And you feel it burn, your time has come
I feel it!
You feel another energy and I feel a power growing
You feel another energy and I feel a power grow
You feel another energy and I feel a power grow

Om Namah Narayana
Om Namah Narayana
Om Namah Narayana
Om Namah Narayana
Om Namah Narayana

I feel it
I feel it
You feel another energy... 

Love My Way !

there's an army
on the dancefloor
it's a fashion
with a gun my love
in a room
without a door
a kiss is not enough

in
love my way
it's a new road
i follow where
my mind goes

they'd put us
on a railroad
they'd dearly
make us pay
for laughing
in their faces
and making it our way
there's emptiness
behind their eyes
there's dust
in all their hearts
they just want to
steal us all
and take us all apart

but not in
love my way
it's a new road
i follow where
my mind goes

swallow all your tears my love
put on your new face
you can never win or lose
if you don't run the race

Wishing Well

Take off your hat and kick off your shoes
I know you ain't goin' anywhere
Run around the town singin' your blues
I know you ain't goin' anywhere
You've always been a good friend of mine
But you're always sayin' farewell
And the only time that you're satisfied
Is when your feet in the wishin' well
Oh yeah

Throw down your gun, you might shoot yourself
Or is that what your tryin' to do
Put up a fight you believe to be right
And someday the sun will shine through
You've always got somethin' to hide
Somethin' you just can't tell
And the only time that you're satisfied
Is when your feet in the wishin' well

But I know what you're wishin' for
Life in a peaceful world
Oh yeah 
Life in a peaceful world
Oh yeah 
Life in a peaceful world

You've always been a good friend of mine
But you're always sayin' farewell
And the only time that you're satisfied
Is when your feet in the wishin' 
Well, oh yes, my god

Everybody has a dream, yeah
Everybody has a wish, well
In the wishin' well

Coming soon !!

I am planning to run a series of articles on my Sanguinary Guard I've been working on. I think they are some of my best stuff yet. These are models I assembled and painted. Lots of slick conversions and very nicely painted. There will also be a short article on my converted Sanguinor.

G

Placing Objectives for Competitive Play

Here are my thoughts on guidelines for placement of objectives in a competitive tournament environment. Like I said these are my ideas, I don't expect anyone to agree with them.

The Black Rage !!

On the eve of battle, certain among the brethren of the Blood Angels will succumb to living visions of the death of their primarch Sanguinius. The Battle Brothers so afflicted will be gathered by the Chaplains into the Death Company, a force of blood-maddened warriors who will battle ferociously, heedless of injury, until death claims them. The Chapter's High Chaplain Astorath the Grim is drawn to the greatest concentrations of Battle-Brothers struck by this waking nightmare, meaning that an entire company has entirely given over to the Black Rage.

New Sneak Peak...

The Comp Onion

You must be wondering 3 things:

1) What is a Comp Onion,

2) How did the first Comp Onion come about, and

3) Am I a Comp Onion?

Read on, you warm, friendly but ultimately deluded little scamp, and I shall answer not 1, not 2, but quite literally all of those questions.