The Blood Angels In 6th Edition: Good And Bad

by SandWyrm

Time to see how the Blood Angels are likely to be affected by the rules in the 6th Edition 'Leak'.

(Note: For the purposes of this discussion, I'm going to assume that the 'Leak' document is real. Though it could be anything from a fan-made fake to an outdated test document. Be that as it may, let's not get caught up whether it's real or not. I'm more interested in the changes it would bring to the game if it is real.)

Positives:

1. Land Raiders can move and fire 3 weapons. PotMS doesn't add to this or let you fire at another target by itself (the multi-targeting rules handle this), but it still lets you fire once if you're shaken or stunned.
2. Land Raiders (being a tank) have a -1 modifier to the vehicle damage chart.
3. Hurricane Bolters are a 'gun battery' (considered one weapon for all 3 twin-linked bolters).
4. Librarians have Psychic Mastery (2)
5. Mephiston has Psychic Mastery (3)
6. Models in an 'Armor Group' (all have the same combination of saves) can be allocated a wound for each wound they have remaining. So you can allocate 2 wounds to a 2-wound model with a Storm Shield before moving onto the next group. Or you could allocate 4 wounds to Dante before moving on to the other models in his unit.
7. ATSKNF makes Marines immune to being auto-destroyed if they're fleeing within 12" of an enemy at the start of their turn.
8. But since DOA armies are wearing Jump Packs, it should be very easy to take advantage of this rule!
9. ATSKNF also makes Marines immune (as always) to being destroyed if they're swept in an assault.
10. Vehicles and their passengers are much more vulnerable to close-combat attacks. See Dodger's comments to my Imperial Guard rundown for details. 
11. Assault comes before Shooting, so you can pop a transport with a Power Fist and then gun down the survivors afterwards. If they make it out alive (see above).
12. A unit in a moving transport gets the Relentless special rule (but note the downsides to firing from transports further below).
13. Reserves come on much more reliably. You get one reserve die per unit in reserve, and up to 3 of these can be used to roll for one unit. You need a 4+ on any die to bring reserves on turn 2, It's 3+ for turn 3. From turn 4 on, all reserves arrive automatically. You cannot hold reserves back voluntarily.
14. Units placed in reserve can be organized into strike forces of multiple units. A strike force generates just one reserve die and if the roll is successful (-1 modifier), every unit in the strike force will enter play at the same time.
15. Decent of Angels still lets you re-roll failed reserve rolls for deep striking. So a Blood Angels player is all but assured of getting the unit he wants when he wants it. Put all but one reserve unit in a strike force and you'll get two re-rollable dice for everything in that strike force to enter play together on turn 2. That's massive.
16. Deep Striking units will not scatter if placed more than 18" from an enemy unit.
17. Deep Striking units that try to land within 18" of an enemy will scatter, though for Blood Angles this will only be D6 inches. :)
18. No more mishaps! A deep striking unit that would have mishaped in 5th will only be stunned instead. The models are moved the minimum distance (like a drop pod) needed to prevent the mishap.
19. All scout moves are 12" now. But you don't count as having moved.
20. Rapid Fire weapons (Bolters) can always fire one shot out to their maximum range.
21. Any model with a power weapon now has a 5+ Invulnerable save in Close Combat. Go Sanguinary Guard! 
22. Squad Leaders and Characters can decide which enemy models they're attacking. As Dodger noted, there's NO REASON AT ALL to take Power Fists anymore.
23. And finally... Units with Master Crafted Weapons (Sang Guard) get to reroll one miss for every model in the unit, no matter what each model rolled. NICE!!! That pretty much makes up for not getting an extra pistol attack.
24. (Added...) Pistols can now be used in close combat! Infernus Pistols become S8 AP5 close combat weapons!
25. (Added...) You can't assault (double move) after you land from a deep-strike, but you can do an 'engage' move. Which is basically an assault move made at your normal movement value. HUGE boost for the Blood Angels!

Negatives:

1. Wound allocation is now based on 'Armor Groups'. So no more shenanigans based on having unique equipment for each model.
2. Vehicles and their passengers are much more vulnerable to close-combat attacks. See Dodger's comments to my Imperial Guard rundown for details.
3. Passengers in a transport can only see out 18"
4. A unit in a moving transport can only fire ONE weapon out.
5. Anti-MEQ blast weapons of all types (Battle Cannons, Plasma Cannons, etc.) are going to be much more accurate. They hit on straight BS and multiple shot blast weapons can walk their templates back to wherever they want from where the first one scatters (if it scatters).
6. Standard cover is only 5+ when you're being shot at by those blast weapons.
7. Psykers inside a transport can not counter enemy psychic powers.
8. Any enemy Psyker can stop your Psychic powers on a 5+ roll.
9. If you are deep-striking within 12" of one or more enemy units, those units may shoot at you using the Defensive Fire rule!

That's a nice list of Positives!

The Blood Angels have been mildly disappointing in 5th. They have power, but have not been at the very top of the competitive books. Especially if you wanted to run a themed DOA force instead of simple Rhino/Razor spam. These rules would nerf the Rhino/Razor builds, but push the DOA armies right up into the top tier. I'm cackling with delight for my Sanguinary Guard army's prospects in 6th.

Thoughts?