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.



This force relies on overwhelming force to achieve victory; there are no scoring units that can claim battlefield objectives, and its numbers are too few to consider protracted firefights with numerically superior enemies. Instead, a player wielding such an army must remember the Wipeout! rule on page 90 of the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook - if the enemy has no units left on the table at the end of the game, you win regardless of victory conditions.

Astorath, Lemartes and the Chaplain are all attached to Death Company squads, their Liturgies of Blood rule allowing their fearless compatriots to re-roll both failed rolls to hit and to wound on the turn they launch an assault. The Death Company themselves already benefit from the Feel No Pain and Furious Charge rules, but the Blood Chalice and Red Grail of the Sanguinary Priest and Brother Corbulo extend these benefits not only to themselves but the two Chaplains that accompany the force.

The number of Death Company models in this army means the final two Troops choices can be filled by Death Company Dreadnoughts, one armed with blood fists to help overcome any heavily armoured targets, the other equipped with blood talons to scythe through huge numbers of enemy combatants.

Knowing that victory can only come from the utter destruction of every enemy model on the table is quite liberating, and allows a Blood Angels commander to throw his troops forward enthusiastically with scant regard for complicated tactics. All that the Lost Brothers of the Death Company seek is a glorious death in combat against the enemies of Sanguinius - if victory eludes you, remember this salient fact.