Sanguinary Guard Bits

The game was announced 9 December 2021 with a cinematic trailer released during The Game Awards 2021. It is confirmed that Captain Titus is making his return and has become a Primaris Space Marine. The game takes place in Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe and features the Ultramarines chapter of Space Marines. The Tyranids will be featured as enemies. It was also announced that the role of Titus had been recast (he was voiced by Mark Strong in the original game), and he will now be voiced by Clive Standen. A gameplay reveal was shown at The Game Awards 2022. The game is set to be released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X and Series S in 2023.Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II is an upcoming third-person shooter hack-n-slash video game being developed by Saber Interactive and published by Focus Entertainment. It will be released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S in 2023. It is the sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine.

At Summer Game Fest 2023 it was confirmed the campaign would feature 3-player co-op with either other players or AI, it was additionally revealed that the game was set for a ’winter’ release.From an early age, Blix was able to see the antagonisms in society and took his gentle, right-minded father’s side against conservative hypocrisy. By the age of twelve, he had already shown evidence of his talent and published a cartoon magazine he called Peik, which featured caricatures of teachers and schoolmates. Three years later, he and his best friend Einar Skavlan, later editor-in-chief of Dagbladet, published Brage, a magazine whose motto was “to criticize and to mock”, written by Skavlan and illustrated by Blix. In the meantime, Blix continued ridiculing fascism, Nazism, and communism in his satirical cartoons. By 1936, his freedom had already been restricted in Berlingske Tidende. Of the complaints received from Italy and Germany, 99 percent had to do with Blix’s cartoons. Blix was one of the first foreigners to literally catch sight of Hitler. This happened in Munich in 1922, the year before the failed coup. Blix describes it thus: “An Austrian housepainter appeared in Munich. Since the posters said that Jews were not allowed, I got curious and went there one day. I was received with tremendous courtesy and a couple of uniformed gentlemen led me through the full auditorium up to the platform so that I could sit, so to speak, at the master’s feet. Finally, he arrived. An ordinary, unhealthy looking man with a brachycephalic head atop a dirty raincoat, which he kept on during the talk. The hairy bit under the nose seemed to be rooted to the upper teeth, only the lower jaw was in motion. It was as if he wanted to emphasize an underbite he did not have. A charmer he wasn’t. And he was not a good speaker either. He stood with his nose in the script and read aloud the entire time. At any rate, he was not the illiterate I at first took him to be.” The editors of Simplicissimus wondered whether there might be any point in drawing Hitler, but they concluded that they could not get involved with those kinds of “trifles”. However, that changed a few years later, when Blix had serious reason to address the “trifle” and began to attack Nazism in Germany. Hitler was an obvious target, just like Mussolini and Fascism in Italy. Nor were the Communists ignored: Lenin and Stalin were included in the portrait gallery. The war in Ethiopia, the Spanish Civil War, and the advance of Fascism, the passivity of England and France — there was plenty of material.

Ragnvald Blix was born in Christiania, now Oslo, in 1882. His father Elias Blix was a liberal church minister in the liberal government of Johan Sverdrup, a professor of Hebrew, and an author of hymns.

Criticism of German policy continued in GHT despite various attempts to quash it. As early as 1940, King Gustaf V had in a personal conversation tried to persuade Torgny Segerstedt to stop publishing articles and illustrations critical of Germany, but to no avail. For the duration of the war, GHT continued reporting freely about the war, publishing Stig Höök’s cartoons, and writing articles about the Swedish appeasement policy, despite constant threats of confiscation.

Blix was dismissed from the staff of Berlingske Tidende in January 1940. His last drawing in Dagbladet was published on April 6, 1940, before the occupation of Norway.

“Blix’s drawings show how clearly people overseas could see behind the façade of the Third Reich. They reveal the official propaganda of Nazi Germany”, wrote Dr. Wieland König, former curator of the Dusseldorf City Museum, in connection with a Blix exhibition in 1986.

“Quisling’s Christmas Boat” was published on December 5, 1942. It shows Quisling sitting and writing a letter. Through the window can be seen several members of the “hird” hitting people over the head with batons and carrying them off to a large boat. The caption reads: “I am sending you a boatload of Jews as a bit of encouragement in these ill-fated times. I hope it arrives before the Christmas tree is lit …”. The drawing alludes to the persecution of Jews in Norway, which culminated in the monstrous deportation by boat to German concentration camps in November 1942.One of the most memorable cartoons in Exlex is “Revolution?” which shows Norwegians fighting about how the word revolution should be spelled. Another is “When the Socialists Come”, which refers to the days when Sweden’s first Social Democratic cabinet ministers were to take office. The cartoon shows the interior of the Royal Palace in Stockholm with King Gustaf in the foreground. A servant in uniform decorated with gold announces the arrival of the new cabinet members and asks whether he should admit them. Queen Victoria answers: “Certainly, but through the servant’s entrance!” Blix’s attitude toward politicians is clear in “The Agreement”. In this cartoon, the Devil is sitting in Hell waiting for guests to arrive from Earth. He says: “Here come the politicians, so I suppose there is peace on Earth again.” There were once again diplomatic protests from Germany on July 8, 1933, this time provoked by Blix’s cartoon “Captain Hindenburg” in GHT. Dressed in a captain’s uniform, Hindenburg is sitting on a ship in a storm. Hitler is at the helm and Göring and Goebbels are gripping the compass. The caption reads: “We dare not throw him overboard. If it all goes wrong, we have to have somebody left who can be the last man on the bridge.” When Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934 and Hitler was proclaimed his political heir by the Nazis, Torgny Segerstedt stated in both the editorial and his column that the “last will and testament” was an arrangement that would enable the Nazis to feed on the former president’s national authority. A ban on GHT in the German Reich was issued effective August 14, 1934, to February 15, 1935. The ban was extended on February 14, 1935, and was not lifted until May 1945. Blix’s good friend Thomas Theodor Heine was Jewish and had fled Munich for Prague in 1933 after his colleagues at Simplicissimus had repudiated him and claimed that it was Heine the Jew who had misled them into taking their critical attitude towards Hitler.Heine managed to flee to Norway in 1939 and was rescued from the persecution in December 1942 and taken to Sweden. He was received in Stockholm by Blix, who had organized the flight with the assistance of Einar Skavlan, a Norwegian resistance organization, and Christian Günther.Blix drew a cartoon in 1912 called “Der kranke Zarewitsch” in which Death is reaching out for the son, who is hiding behind his father’s back. The Tsar asks: “What is your business here? Haven’t I given you enough to do in the Balkans?” The cartoon was published on the cover shortly after Russia had provoked the Balkan countries into a sanguinary war, which led to the banning of Simplicissimus in Russia. This was a considerable financial loss to the magazine, “but I got a pay raise”, Blix related.

One year later, the head office moved to Copenhagen. Thomas Theodor Heine wrote that Exlex was one of the best magazines of its kind in the entire world, and that Blix had developed into one of the truly great cartoon satirists.

Two selections of Stig Höök’s GHT cartoons were issued as albums in Sweden: Stig Höök Anno 1941 (after Judas) published by Axel Holmström, and Stig Höök 1942–44 published by Bonniers. The 1942–44 album was published in May 1944 and was very favorably reviewed in about twenty Swedish newspapers, even though the war was not over. A few of the headings were: “It is not the war in pictures … but the reality behind the war”, “An album about the great madness”,and “The Segerstedt of the Drawing Pencil”.Under the heading “Political Propagandist”, one reviewer wrote “… Stig Höök has been and remains one of the most dangerous enemies of Nazism in this country”.The first cartoon once again signed Blix after the 1945 surrender was printed in GHT on May 19, 1945. It has neither title nor caption. Himmler and Death are standing next to each other, Death’s arm draped over Himmler’s shoulder. Both are wearing uniform caps. On Himmler’s cap, there is a badge with a death’s head. Death, whose cap bears the badge of Himmler, looks at Himmler with a worried expression. The cartoon later became known as “Himmler and Death”. Another unforgettable cartoon is the one showing Göring during the Nuremberg Trials wearing a pair of old, patched trousers and a collarless shirt, trying to wriggle out of the verdict to the very last, when the judge asks: “And perhaps you were not a Nazi either?” The answer is: “It must have been while I was under the influence of morphine; now that I am off the stuff, I am almost liberal.”But Exlex was forced to shut down after two years; there was not a large enough audience in Scandinavia able to appreciate what people like Blix and Heine were trying to do with their magazines: sharp, personalized criticism of everything and everybody.

After Exlex folded, Heine wanted Blix back at Simplicissimus. But problems acquiring a residence permit and housing stood in the way and Blix started working mainly for three Nordic daily newspapers: Dagbladet in Norway, Berlingske Tidende in Denmark, and Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning (GHT) in Sweden. He delivered one captioned cartoon per week for the rest of his life, except during the war years, when he worked only for GHT under a pseudonym.References to this article can be found in the book where it was originally published, Vilja frihet, motstå våldet [Desiring freedom, resisting violence], Göteborg 2009 (Stiftelsen Torgny Segerstedts minne).

The 1942–44 Stig Höök album was published illegally in Denmark. It was printed on cheap paper and the profits went to the Liberation Movement. Stig Höök’s perhaps most famous cartoon, “Audience with Hitler”, was printed in that edition. It was previously published in GHT on January 29, 1944. It shows Quisling on his way in to see Hitler, his arm lifted in a Nazi salute. He says “I am Quisling!” and the guard asks “And your name, Sir??”His post-war cartoons are just as acerbic as before. He became one of our first atomic bomb protestors, a stance expressed in cartoons such as “Triumphs of Science” from 1948, in which Nils Bohr says to Einstein: “Don’t worry about the atomic bomb — it’s already obsolete”, or “Hydrogen Bomb” from 1950, in which President Truman is sitting and fishing and says: “No, no, I dare not take responsibility for the future”, and is answered “There won’t be one, Mr. President.” In “Adenauer’s Nightmare” from 1951, Blix addresses the return of former Nazis to the Federal Republic of Germany. Adenauer is lying in bed with the covers pulled up to his nose. Large, black rats with swastikas on their backs are climbing into bed with him. “Since the Americans have let them out of the trap, I cannot as a good democrat reject them”, he says.

Blix was both a cartoonist and author. “A lot of people ask me whether I write the captions myself. They might as well ask me if I do the drawings myself”, remarked Blix.

Blix went to Norway the following year and started a satire magazine called Exlex (“Lawless”) that was meant to be a Nordic equivalent of Simplicissimus. The first issue was published on February 11, 1919. The head office was in Kristiania. Nordic artists including Anton Hansen, Robert Storm Petersen, Adolf Hallman, Oscar Jacobsson, and Gustav Ljunggren contributed. Literary contributors included Knut Hamsun, Georg Brandes, Johannes V. Jensen, Martin Andersen Nexö, Ludvig Nordström, and Erik Lindorm. Danish poet Tom Kristensen debuted in Exlex, which also published poets such as Herman Wildenvey and Emil Bønnelycke. Texts were published in the original languages. Blix was the editor and usually illustrated the cover, which, like Simplicissimus, was a full page in color, with a clean outline, bright color field, and Blix’s own captions. “Never before or since has any Nordic publication gathered so many talented, not to say out-and-out gifted, contributors; it simply had to go wrong”, wrote Arve Solstad, former editor-in-chief of Dagbladet. After graduating from high school, he became the editor of a Norwegian satire magazine, Tyrihans, succeeding Olaf Gulbransson, who had just emigrated to Munich to draw for the world-renowned German satire magazine Simplicissimus. Ragnvald Blix was both a cartoonist and author. Blix declared his manifesto: “To be a good cartoonist, you have to be cold as ice in the face of all ideas and all persons. Sympathies and antipathies do not exist. First and foremost, you must have no respect for authority, tradition, or anything else in Heaven or on Earth, or even for anything in Hell.” Blix continued ridiculing fascism, Nazism, and communism in his satirical cartoons.My son Ib would have been so happy to meet you in order to personally thank you for the invaluable help you gave the Liberation Movement in Denmark by allowing the “1944 paper” to publish your magnificent, powerful pictures, which raised a great deal of money, all of which went to the Liberation Movement. He fell to a German bullet on the 23rd of April.

Blix’s cartoons provide a variety of glimpses into German society under Nazism, such as “German University” from 1933, in which we see two older professors discussing who the policeman with a swastika around his arm might be: “What is the policeman doing here?” “Hush, that’s the one who took over Einstein’s professorship.” In another, “New German Court” from 1934, the dialog is: “Are you not a jurist either, my dear colleague?” “No, no, I have no inhibitions of any kind.” And then there is “Nazi Growth” from 1933, in which Goebbels is talking to a group of women, who are listening with downcast eyes: “We ask of you women only one thing, that you make more of us!” “The Revolver President” was published on August 11, 1934. In this cartoon, the people are saluting with both arms when they catch sight of Hitler, who wonders: “What is this? People have started to raise both arms when I go out in public.” The cartoon alludes to the terror Hitler struck into the hearts of the people after the purge within his own party, when he had ordered the execution of a large number of former SA leaders accused of plotting against him. Blix remained in Sweden throughout the war. He lived in Stockholm during the winters and at Guö in the province of Blekinge during the summers. His cartoons were distributed by illegal channels to the resistance movements in Denmark and Norway. Håndslag: Fakta og orientering for nordmenn [Handshake: Facts and orientation for Norwegians], a newspaper in a small format the size of a hand, was one of the most popular underground periodicals in Norway. It was started in May 1942 by the Stockholm office of Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning. The first issue came out on June 1, with Swedish writer Eyvind Johnson the publisher of record. Most of the articles were written by the Norwegian journalist and author Torolf Elster, and Willy Brandt, who later became Federal Chancellor of Germany. Stig Höök usually illustrated the cover. The last edition was published in June 1945. Circulation was sometimes as high as 16,000 copies, which were distributed in virtually every corner of Norway. The people who distributed the paper often had the Gestapo hot on their heels and were sometimes caught red-handed, with very grave consequences. “All told, there might have been about a million Blix cartoons spread in Norway during these years. He was not paid a penny for them, but only tremendous satisfaction”, wrote Torolf Elster forty years later. Blix received several honors for his work, such as King Christian X of Denmark’s Medal of Freedom, and the Norwegian state artists’ stipend. When the Norwegian Academy was founded, he was invited to be a member, as the only visual artist. His cartoons are in the collections of institutions including the Gothenburg Museum of Art, the Swedish National Museum, the Norwegian National Gallery in Oslo, the editorial offices of Dagbladet in Oslo, the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen, the Dusseldorf City Museum, and the Munich City Museum. In recent years, they have been shown at exhibitions in several Scandinavian countries, Poland, and Germany. ≈The Sanguinary Guard fight with the weapons traditional to their honoured position, wrist-mounted Angelus Pattern Bolters that leave the hands free to wield a master-crafted Power Sword known as an Encarmine Sword.

Though he had yearned to fight at his Primarch’s side one final time, with a heavy heart Azkaellon had acceded to Sanguinius’ wishes. For he knew that he could not jeopardise the sacred duty entrusted to him. Following his Primarch’s final orders, the Sanguinary Guard managed to survive when the Blood Angels’ Primarch did not, for Azkaellon made certain that their legacy was maintained, not just in the Blood Angels, but in every Successor Chapter that arose from the dissolution of the IX Legion during the Second Founding.

Yet the vision of a golden angel soaring into battle with a storied banner of the Blood Angels held high can inspire fervour beyond words in the warriors of the Imperium, and transform even the direst rout into glorious victory against the odds.

Sanguinius’ prescient vision of his own fate led him to insist that his Herald Azkaellon remain on Terra so that should he fall, the Sanguinary Guard would not be entirely extinguished. Once reconstituted by Azkaellon, the Guard would go on to serve as a beacon of hope for the Blood Angels and the wider Imperium in the dark days ahead.After the formation of the Great Rift in 999.M41, the Sanguinary Guard again faced annihilation when the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Leviathan attacked their homeworld of Baal. In the ensuing campaign known as the Devastation of Baal, only a single member of the Sanguinary Guard, Caraeus, survived the Great Devourer’s massive assault. Following the Blood Angels’ victory with the aid of the forces of the Indomitus Crusade, the Sanguinary Guard’s ranks were soon fully reinforced thanks to the arrival on Baal of Primaris Space Marines of Blood Angels heritage with the Indomitus Crusade fleet.

Of Saronath, whose coming was so terrible it set WAAAGH! Rokchewa to flight, and of Sepharan, who entered the gates of hell itself to battle for his Chapter’s soul. Of these warriors they tell, and of countless others, past and present. To join the ranks of the Sanguinary Guard is therefore no mere battlefield assignment, nor even an honour. It is to enter a brotherhood of mortals-become-gods, to continue a legend already ten thousand standard years old. They served with the Primarch until he perished in the assault on the Warmaster Horus’ Battle Barge Vengeful Spirit during the final hours of the Battle of Terra. Only a lone member of the Sanguinary Guard survived that final confrontation. Chosen before the commencement of each conflict by a council of peers, one amongst the Sanguinary Guard may be given the honour of bearing their Chapter standard into battle. It is only during times of greatest need that such a banner is released from the Arx Angelicum, for these magnificently crafted relics are links to the Chapter’s oldest days, and some were borne to war during the Great Crusade itself.They speak of Blind Erephon, who claimed he fought better without his eyes than he ever did with them, and who sealed the seven daemon-gates of Derios IV. Of Andrastor, who stood alone against the Tyranid swarm on Cripple Ridge.

The deeds of each Sanguinary Guard are recorded with reverent diligence. At high feast days, those rare occasions when the entire Chapter is gathered together, the Sanguinary Guard’s deeds are recounted, delivered with gusto and pride by battle-steeped Veterans to attentive Scout Marines and Aspirants.

Considered an Order of what the Primarch designated the elite First Sphere of the IX Legion, the Sanguinary Guard were also called the Ikisat, the ”Burning Ones,” because of the sheer fire of their devotion to their Primarch.10 min och en halv öl senare så har jag lyckats hamna på en 70väg (med en rejäl vägren vill jag påpeka) och går där i mina egna tankar när en polis bil kör ifatt mig och vevar ner rutan och ska börja prata med mig.Sagans hjälte som vi döpte till kickern börjar dock känna att det är dags att gå hem när han kastat iväg sin ölflaska och försökte dricka en kubbpinne.Men det är alltid roligt att prata korkade saker man gjort på midsommar så tänkte berätta en liten historia som utspelar sig för 2-3 år sen om jag inte minns fel och eftersom inte mycket har hänt i 40k världen så kommer blir det lite offtopic. Jag hade antagligen kommit hem fortare om jag inte var tvungen att spendera tiden med att förklara sen att jag inte har en bil(och det lades på ytterligare 5min för att jag lade till ordet ”längre” för att vara lite rolig ). Som alla vet är midsommar en tid för att skämma ut sig och fundera om det verkligen inte är en bra idé att kissa på ett elstängsel eller slå gubben för han står ju uppenbarligen och stirrar på dig.Kickern: men jag är inte någon brottsling så jag går med på att gå tillbaka och ta skogsvägen som säkert kryllade av läskiga moped tonåringar och vilda djur som vill hämnas på att jag ätit upp deras familj.Polisen som har suttit bredvid lutar sig då mot fönstret och säger jag måste bara fråga men varför bör du på en övningskörningsskylt(som jag fortfarande hade i min hand som inte var till ölen)En stund senare när jag kommit en bit hittar jag en övningskörningsskylt i vägrenen som jag plockar upp och har i handen eftersom det var på den tiden jag försökte ta körkort och då spar man några kronor om jag skulle behöva en.

Så vad kan jag säga om midsommar den blev lugnt och spenderades sittande i solen räknandes på armelistor till etc men även en ny Chaos/chaos deamon arme som jag kommer förhoppningsvis börja fota och skriva om som ett målningsprojekt.During the Horus Heresy, the Blood Angels were one of the few Legions who fought alongside the Emperor during the Battle of Terra. When Horus lowered the shields of his battlebarge and the Emperor teleported aboard the ship, Sanguinius was with him.

After the battle in the Signus Cluster, the Blood Angels were able to link up with Ultramar and under the watchful eyes of Roboute Guilliman Sanguinius was eventually crowned Emperor of Imperium Secundus.Suffused with the dying memories of Sanguinus, the warriors of the Death Company seek only one thing: death in battle fighting against the enemies of the Emperor. The Death Company is arrayed in black armour upon which are painted red saltires, crosses of blood red which symbolise the sacrifice of Sanguinius. The company is led into battle and directed towards the foe by the Chapters Chaplains. The warriors fight with the certainty of death and are completely fearless, ignoring wounds that would fell a normal man. Should they survive the battle they will probably die of their wounds afterwards, once the frenzied slaughter is past. It is better this way, for those who do survive almost always fall victim to the Red Thirst, turning into creatures no better than wild beasts craving flesh and blood. Better by far to die cleanly and quickly in battle than to suffer such a fate. The Sanguinary Priest can use the Exsanguinator for medical treatment of wounded Space Marines. But more important the Exsanguinator is a tool for retrieving the gene-seed from the body of a fallen Marine and is vital for the survival of the Chapter. In the veins of every Sanguinary Priest flow a portion of Sanguinius’s own blood. That adds to the spiritual significance of the Exsanguinator for the Blood Angels. Usually a Sanguinary Priest uses his influence to calm the Red Thirst of his battle brothers. These priests are the epitome of the noble character of Sanguinius’s heirs. But there are some priests that aspire to use the gift of their Primarch. The Blood Angels Chapter has two ruling bodies, the Red Council and the Council of Blood. The latter is made up of senior Chaplains and Sanguinary Priests and is responsible for spiritual and physical work to constrain the Red Thirst and the Black Rage. The Red Council meanwhile consists of the chapter’s most senior officers oversees all aspects of waging war and nominates a new Chapter Master when the previous one inevitably dies. As such, the Red Council is the more senior of the two bodies.

Ultimately after a number of disasters, clashes between Guilliman, Sanguinius, and Lion El’Jonson, and a vision by Sanguinius that the Emperor was alive, Imperium Secundus was abolished. The three Primarch’s led their Legions in an attempt to breach the Ruinstorm and reach Terra. Through an arduous journey, they eventually reached Davin, the nexus of the Ruinstorm, and engaged a vast Daemonic host. After the battle and the destruction of Davin, a way to Terra through the Ruinstorm was clear. However in their way stood many enemy blockades as Horus had foreseen this route. Sanguinius and the Blood Angels raced directly for Terra, as was their destiny, while Guilliman and Lion El’Jonson led the Ultramarines and Dark Angels in diversionary attacks against Horus’ blockade.Even among the vaunted Veterans of the Chapter, there are warriors that stand above their brothers in might of arms and sheer skill. These are the Sanguinary Guard, an order that traces its origins to the days of the Great Crusade, where they served as their Primarch’s 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 wade into battle wielding Glaives Encarmine, ancient power weapons of terrible power.At the end of the vigil, the remaining aspirants are offered a chalice (rumoured to contain a small portion of Sangunius’s own blood) by the Sanguinary Priests. After partaking it, they fall into a coma and are entombed by the Blood-Servitors inside the caskets of the Hall of the Sacrophagi. They remain there for a full year, in full care of the casket’s life-support systems, while they are injected with blood of the Sanguinius. Many die, incapable of bearing the vast changes wrought upon them by the gene-seed; others wake up too early and grow insane from their dark and claustrophobic existence. The ones who completely adapt, however, become the newest additions to the chapter.

Despite their melee-emphasized method of war, the Blood Angels maintain a larger then average pool of armored vehicles, including some of unique Design. Most notable of these is the Baal Predator.Following the Thirteenth Black Crusade and the resurrection of Roboute Guilliman, the Great Rift divides the Imperium in two. Baal and the bulk of the Blood Angels are left stranded in the Dark Imperium and must face the Tyranids alone. In the subsequent Devastation of Baal Dante leads a desperate defense alongside several Successor Chapters but all seems lost until the arrival of Guilliman’s Indomitus Crusade. Hive Fleet Leviathan is largely destroyed, ironically thanks to Daemonic hordes that formed as a result of the Great Rift. In the aftermath of the battle Belisarius Cawl and the Zar-Quaesitor arrives along with thousands of new Primaris Space Marine recruits to rebuild the shattered chapter. Brother Corbulo becomes fascinated with the Primaris Marines as a potential source for a cure to the Blood Angels flaw, and follows them into battle whenever he can. Meanwhile Dante is made Regent of Imperium Nihilus by Guilliman. However it has since become apparent that Primaris Marines are still vulnerable to the Black Rage and Primaris too have since been placed into the Death Company.

Among the Chapter, it is customary of the mighty Blood Angels leaders to be accompanied by an Honour Guard of dedicated warriors. Its members are often distinguished individuals or the most accomplished Veteran Marines of the Chapter; warriors with full access to the armoury of the Blood Angels. As a result, the Honour Guard are normally well equipped and ably transported. Sanguinary Priests and Techmarines may be found within an Honour Guard, as can Standard-Bearers. When operating as Honour Guard for a Company Commander, one member of the Guard may be nominated as Blood Champion. Honour Guard wear gold helmets.*: Space Hulk: Tactics doesn’t specify when the story exactly happens, it just says ”closing years of the M41”. Other sources can give us more infos. Karlaen had been First Captain for two centuries in 999.M41, this means Ubaldo could have been First Captain until 799.M41. Main characters in the campaign already know Tyranids. This means the First Tyrannic War has already happened and the story is set between 742.M41 and 799.M41.

The Blood Angels are also able to field a highly specialized force against overwhelming infantry known as a Deathstorm Strike Force and it is only deployed in the most dire of situations.With Signus Prime covered from pole to pole with the result of daemonic invasion, with millions lying dead in the streets or held in prison camps to await daemonic whims, with cities razed, oceans boiled away and plains burned to cinders, the Blood Angels Legion struck in a furious assault; falling from the skies to engage crazed cultists and packs of hideous daemons upon the Plains of the Damned. Sanguinius swore to personally cast Kyriss down and vanquish him, so hence made for the Cathedral of the Mark, the daemon’s lair. However, outside its entrance, Sanguinius was faced with the single greatest foe who would have the greatest effect on his Legion and its descendants down the millennia; Ka’Bandha, Greater Daemon and Bloodthirster of Khorne.

The Blood Angels were created from the genetic material of their Primarch, Sanguinius. As with all of the Primarchs, Sanguinius was genetically engineered to be a supreme super-soldier but was cast into the warp during his infancy along with his brothers, and found on the nuclear-blasted moon of Baal Secundus.

The Blood Angels Legion is known to have sired at least five Second Founding Chapters, but as a Chapter they sired two more; many have come and gone in the millennia. Their successors, like them, are afflicted with the Black Rage and Red Thirst, and a sense of loss and grief for their fallen primarch and have visions of his death. Although some chapters suffer from it more than others, the Successors that were founded in later centuries are more harshly affected by the flaw. Some founding’s teeter on the border of full-blown insanity, causing them to be on the verge of destruction, even though the Chapter council thought the flaw was eradicated from the gene-stocks for a while. Due to this the Space Marines of the most recent foundings can lapse into psychosis with the slightest provocation. The Blood Angels and their successors share a special bond due to the death of their Primarch being a very real memory that threatens them when in great stress or danger, rather than being a myth of legend unlike other chapters, due to this bond an attack on a chapter is considered an attack on all Sons of Sanguinus.

After all these trials, victors (often numbering less than a few score) are finally chosen. They are taken in the Thunderhawks to the stronghold of the Blood Angels on the Baal itself, the Arx Angelicum. However, they haven’t completed their trials yet, as they must observe a vigil for 72 hours without rest. Those that fail and fall asleep are taken away by the Blood-Servitors; no-one knows what happens to them.The Blood Angels consider the Red Thirst to be shameful and keep it a secret from the rest of the Imperium, although by the end of the 41st millenium it has become an open secret, with many Imperials including Roboute Guilliman being aware of it. The Black Rage is also something of an open secret, though outsiders cannot distinguish it from the Red Thirst. The Blood Angels stave off the Red Thirst and Black Rage in part by practicing fine art as a hobby, such as painting or sculpting. Somehow this has a soothing effect on the inhuman beast inside all of them. The successor chapter Angels Penitent used to do the same but gave it up, and since then they suffer the Red Thirst and Black Rage at a much increased rate.

During the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, the Blood Angels were a Space Marine Legion numbering roughly 120,000 warriors. Sanguinius created three Spheres to encompass his hosts, each with its own chamber that would give order and purpose to the Legion. Three hundred standard combat Companies formed the outermost sphere, known as the Malak, which followed the strict guidelines of the Principia Belicosa. The Second ”middle” Sphere was composed of the officers of the Legion who served as strategic advisers to the Primarch as well as the principle planners of any Legion operation. The innermost or First Sphere were known as the Immortals. These warriors stood within the inner circle of Sanguinius as well as specialist warrior chambers. Warriors of the First Sphere were the most accomplished of the Legion and were assigned the most difficult and dangerous missions. Formations of the First Sphere Sanguinary Guard, Crimson Paladins, Burning Eyes, and Angel’s Tears.The Blood Angels recruit their Aspirants from the chapter’s home planet of Baal and its two moons. The time of choosing is known as the Duplus Lunaris, a centennial alignment of Baal and its moons. During this time, members of the Chapter visit each tribe of the Baal System to encourage participation in the selection process. The subsequent trials differ, with ritual combat being typical on Baal Primus. On Baal Secundus meanwhile they travel to Angel’s Fall (the place where Sangunius was found as an infant) must reach the Place of Challenge by journeying through a vast, hostile desert, and a series of canyons, infested with Fire Scorpions and Thirstwater. While the trial claims many, those that succeed come before the Blood Angels, who winnow out those that are genetically incompatible with their Gene-Seed. All are permitted to return home, though the most promising rejects are elevated to the status of Chapter Serf. After nine days of games at the Place of Challenge, their numbers are reduced even further. Those that remain are elevated to Aspirant. These Aspirants are then force-marched to the next Place of Challenge, where they are split into smaller units. Any aspirant who fails at this point is doomed to never leave the facility, and will either die in the trials or remain there as guards. Meanwhile on Baal, Sanguinius was affected by the warp, and when he was found by one of the few unmutated human tribes on Baal, he had a pair of angelic wings growing from his back. As he matured quickly, he was able to use his superhuman powers and abilities to unite the humans of Baal against the mutants and become their leader. When the Emperor found Baal in his search for the twenty Primarchs, Sanguinius immediately recognized him for who he was and knelt before him, pledging his service in 843.M30. In this, Sanguinius was one of the few Primarchs who did not challenge the Emperor upon their reunion. The Emperor then took Sanguinius and a number of his best warriors and placed him in command of the dark and brutal IXth Legion, which he would come to name the Blood Angels. Blood Angels are unique in that deeply engrained in their gene-seed is the encoded experience of Sanguinius, and most deeply imprinted of all is the memory of his final battle with Horus. Sometimes an event or circumstance will trigger this ’race memory’. This happens only rarely, often on the eve of battle, but it is likely to be a fatal experience for the warrior whose mind is suddenly wrenched into the distant past. What has become known as the Black Rage overcomes him, the memories and consciousness of Sanguinius intrudes upon his mind, and dire events ten thousand years old flood into the present.Towards the end of the 41st Millennium a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan went on a direct course for the Blood Angels homeworld, Baal. Exacerbating this already terrible threat is a massive daemon army led by the dread bloodthirster Ka’Bandha, which has already struck at Ammonai, the outermost planet of the Baal system. Facing a possible war on two fronts, Commander Dante sends out a call for all Chapters descended from the Blood Angels to send forces to aid their ancestor Legion; the Flesh Tearers are the first to do so, deploying the entire Chapter for war. Ultimately all but the Lamenters do so, even the renegade Knights of Blood. The Blood Angels attempted to slow the Tyranid advance during the Cryptus Campaign.

Sanguinius rejected the news that Horus was lying in bed with daemons, claiming it as lies and proclaiming that nothing could entice him to spit on his oath of loyalty to the Emperor, from which he launched himself at the daemon, whilst his finest ten companies of veterans, Dreadnoughts and Terminators charged into the horde of bloodletters, hounds and furies swarming around the Bloodthirster. Plasma fire boiled daemon blood and talons cleaved power armour and gene-enhanced bone whilst the Angel pushed against the Bloodthirster, a flurry of blows from his great sword meeting the daemons axe time and time again, yet still succeeding in driving him back. Seizing the initiative, Sanguinius stabbed Ka’Bhanda through the chest, casting a terrible wound. The daemon replied in pain and anger with a lash of his great whip which caught the Angel’s legs and crushed them within its coils before being knocked to the ground be the flat of his foes axe. With the beast towering over him he taunted at it, Come at me again, daemon! Feel the lick of my sword a second time if you dare! to which Ka’Bhanda replied I let you live this time, manling. Your legs will heal but this wound will always fester. It was at this moment that the beast let loose a mighty howl and darted across the battlefield, cutting down no less that five-hundred sons of Sanguinius . The psychic backlash caused by the loss of so many of his sons cast Sanguinius into unconsciousness.With each new bloody victory, the dire legends that surrounded the IXth grew and spread. They became spectres that haunted the wild places of the Great Crusade, the terrors loosed by the Emperor to clear his path across the stars. The IXth accepted this duty with a grim pride, never shirking in the mantle that they wore. Each campaign was undertaken with a quiet, brooding hunger for blood and death that was as terrifying as it was effective. They fought without mercy and paid no heed to anything other than the destruction of the enemy. Shunned and isolated from the wider Imperium, they began to descend into charnel cults and bloody rituals. Various Red Cults formed as the Legion was broken apart by the widening Crusade, and their brutality attracted censure at places such as Yarant. They began to only maintain line infantry and jump troops, in part due to the reluctance of the Imperium to supply them with more advanced weapons.

Towards the very end of the Heresy the Blood Angels began to suffer from the Black Rage to an extent unseen previously. The dying memories of their Primarch bombarded the psyche of Blood Angels, driving them into fits of violent rage. It fell to the Sanguinary Priests of the Chapter to try and control those suffering from the Black Rage. Yet in the countless generations since the Heresy, genetic deterioration in the Blood Angels gene-seed have seen an increase in this flaw.

It was then that the message from Rogal Dorn of the Imperial Fists was received, calling them back to Terra. The Blood Angels did not need to be informed of the severity of the situation facing them and thus they set about evacuating all personnel from Signus back to the fleet. stowing the corpses of the fallen to be buried later on the slopes of Mount Seraph. Sanguinius ordered that no trace of the Legion remain in the Signus system and that the few surviving inhabitants be transported to nearby systems. Lastly warning beacons were stationed at the warp-jump points to ward off the unwary from visiting any of the planets or moons. Signus was to be left lifeless and rotting. Meanwhile, the Blood Angels’ homeworld of Baal endured an extended Siege by traitor forces.The noble Primarch became separated from the Emperor and came across Horus alone. The Warmaster tried to sway Sanguinius and turn him to Chaos, but the Angel-winged warrior refused, and attacked Horus. The Daemonically strengthened Horus slew Sanguinius, as the Primarch knew he would. He had foreseen his death, and yet still engaged the Arch-Heretic, knowing he would die. This has endowed many of the Blood Angel’s beliefs with a deeply mystical streak. Sanguinius’ violent death left a strong psychic imprint on his Legion, since they partially share his DNA. However, this was a willing sacrifice that was made in order to buy the Emperor time and to give Him a weakness in Horus’s armour, which was key in bringing about the traitor’s defeat.The Red Thirst has been with the Blood Angels since before the Horus Heresy and even Sanguinius suffered from it, albeit in a mild form. The Black Rage has been with the Blood Angels since the death of Sanguinius. The Primaris line of Blood Angels are more resistant to both the Red Thirst and the Black Rage, though not immune, so the Blood Angels must still have a Death Company. When he created the Primaris Blood Angels, Belisarius Cawl decided that the Emperor deliberately gave the Blood Angels the Red Thirst for whatever reason, and so did not try to remove it completely.The First Company is composed of the Chapter’s Space Marine Veterans, warriors with experience forged in countless battles throughout the Imperium and trained in the use of sacred suits of Terminator Armour, while the second to fifth are the Battle Companies who carry the weight of the Chapter’s combat duties. Unlike the other chapters of the Astartes, Blood Angels squad markings are not numerals on the shoulder pads but rather symbols worn on the right knee pad of the power armour, In an attempt to divide those loyalist legions he could not sway to Chaos, Horus dispatched the Blood Angels to the farthest reaches of space, where they unwittingly walked in traps of his and his masters devising. The Blood Angels mission to the Signus Cluster, near to the galactic core in the Ultima Segmentum, was one such venture, where the system of 7 planets and 15 moons had been taken over in bloody slaughter by the daemonic hordes of a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh, Kyriss the Perverse. Thinking that they were arriving to liberate humans from their xeno-overlords, Sanguinius had no reason to suspect that his best friend, the Warmaster Horus, would betray him.

The Blood Angels are for the most part a Codex Chapter, though formations such as the Death Company defy the edicts of Robute Guilliman. In battle, they are known to favor Jumpack-equipped Infantry, close combat, and direct assault. The infamous Gunship and Drop Pod-borne planetary assaults of the Blood Angels are both beautiful and savage to behold. They depart as quickly as they strike, rarely staying behind to oversee a worlds reconstruction and administration unlike the likes of the Imperial Fists.

All Chapters descended from the Blood Angels maintain units of Sanguinary Guard as a legacy of their parent Legion, and all follow the same color scheme except for the Angels Encarmine, whose Sanguinary Guard wear alabaster-white colored armour instead.Today, as adherents of the Codex Astartes, the Blood Angels divide their battle brothers among the chapter into companies. There are 10 companies in the Blood Angels and each one is led by a captain who is guarded by elite veterans known as the Honour Guard. The only exceptions to the Codex structure allowed by the Blood Angels and its Successors are the Sanguinary Guard and the Death Company.

The Blood Angels maintain close ties with their Successor Chapters, particularly after the Devastation of Baal. Great Conclaves of the Sanguinary Brotherhood are held to decide certain actions of Successor Chapters. Sanguinius spent the first 3 years after his rediscovery with the Luna Wolves, learning the ways of the Imperium from his brother Horus. He first met his then-savage Revenant Legion during the Pacification of Teghar Pentarus, but shocked all assembled by first learning the name of each and every one of his warriors. Giving a speech before his assembled sons, Sanguinius stated that he would swear an oath to his Legion instead of the vice-versa. Sanguinius stated he hoped he could live up to leading his sons, and that he would stand with them whatever may come be it glory or damnation. He declared the IXth Legion to be scattered and broken no longer, and that they alone would conduct the coming campaign without the aid of the Luna Wolves. Sanguinius’ humility roused the assembled warriors, who immediately pledged themselves to their Primarch. The Blood Angels and all their successors suffer from a psychological need to drink human blood. They call this ”the Red Thirst”. They have no real nutritional need for blood, but when they abstain from drinking it for a long time, they grow weaker and even age. Chapter Master Dante abstained from drinking blood for centuries, and he eventually developed wrinkled skin and white hair like on old man and likewise felt psychologically worn out. When Baal was attacked by Tyranids in 999.M41, Dante was too emotionally and physically exhausted to lead the defense, but then he drank the blood of one of his servants, killing the servant in the process, and he was rejuvenated both physically and mentally. On the other hand, if a Blood Angel does not resist the Red Thirst at all, he will eventually mutate into a monstrous form, with fangs instead of teeth, walking on all fours like a gorilla, and a bat-like face.Prior to the Devastation of Baal, the Blood Angels maintained a fleet composed of two Battle Barges, seven Strike Cruisers, and sixteen Rapid Strike Vessels. Among its ranks are Azkaellon Class Frigates. The Blood Angels fleet is said to be exceptionally powerful and is commanded almost entirely by members of the Chapter itself as opposed to Thralls.The Blood Angels regularly drink bottled blood which is usually donated willingly by their serfs. They often mix this blood with wine, which they call ”karash”. However, blood is much more satisfying when taken directly from the body of a living person. It’s even better if the victim dies in the process. The Blood Drinkers, a successor chapter of the Blood Angels, have a rite called the Rite of Holos wherein they start by drinking blood donated by their serfs but end with eating a prisoner alive. The death of that one prisoner is more satisfying than blood from a hundred serfs. The Blood Angels themselves have occasionally lost control and attacked and killed their own allies to have their blood even when they had plenty of bottled blood on hand.

Originally known as the IXth Legion, the early records of the Legion show a noted absence in many of the key conquests of the Unification Wars. Instead, the Legion acted as the Emperor’s inferno, ravaging and annihilating any foe they were unleashed upon. Few in number, they often served as vanguards and waging battles in small and audacious raids focusing on murderous close-combat. They were often deployed to the most dangerous warzones against the most twisted of foes, holding the line alone and out of the spotlight. This was a role fitting for them, as the early IXth Legion recruited from the lost and dispossessed of Terra. Despite often bearing the marks of mutation they were genetically sculpted into tall and fair elegant specimens. However other dark rumors followed the Legion, which soon earned the title of the ”Eaters of the Dead” due to their habit of consuming enemy corpses after a battle. As the Unification Wars transitioned into the Great Crusade, the IXth Legion was deployed to hellish backwater warzones such as Neptune. On the moons of Neptune, 12,000 warriors of the IXth disappeared but nonetheless managed to endure and complete their mission. They had largely replenished their numbers taken from the barely human dregs of Neptune’s tunnels. Where others may have floundered and fallen, the IXth had risen from the ashes of defeat. This process soon repeated itself again and again, with the IXth being cast into a hellish warzone only to emerge as they had before. This led to Malcador the Sigillite dubbing them the ”Revenant Legion”. They often found themselves in the company of those Legion’s less-favored by the lords of the Imperium, such as the War Hounds and IVth.

The origins of the Red Thirst and Black Rage is hotly debated by the Blood Angels and their successors. Some blame the process of Insanguination, others in deep rooted Chaos corruption in Sanguinius as he was transported to Baal. The Mechanicum has observed that Blood Angels have an overactive Omophagea, and this combined with their blood rituals may have caused them to become more strongly effected by past memories than others. Others discuss the impact of Baal Secundus’ strange cocktail of chemical toxins and radiation as well as past evidence of mutation among the populace.

Blood Angels also have a habit of sleeping whenever possible in the sarcophagi used to create them. They apparently believe that it is in this slumber that they are one step closer to Sanguinius and seek to gain insight into the psyche of their forefather.

The Blood Angels, originally known as the Revenant Legion were the IX Legion of the original Space Marine Legions under their Primarch Sanguinius. They are particularly well known for their bloodthirsty nature in battle. They are also one of the most long-lived Chapters, and have a refined aesthetic sense.

All Blood Angels and their successors may one day suffer the Black Rage. When they succumb to this, typically in the heat of battle, they think they are their Primarch Sanguinius in battle with Horus. In the Black Rage, the sufferer struggles to distinguish friend from foe. He might even attack his own brothers, something with usually doesn’t happen with the Red Thirst. The Black Rage is incurable, and so difficult to manage that those who succumb are relegated to either the Tower of the Lost on Baal or transferred to the Death Company. In the Death Company, they seek to find a quick honorable death on the field of battle. The Blood Angels will spare no effort to attain the material needed to create the Chapter’s art and have even fought wars to obtain them. This includes Bloodstone gems, from the deep caves of the Cruor Mountain on Baal and the larvae of the Spinewyrm fauna. Bloodthirsty sand clams are also needed, as the white pigment used to paint the Chapter’s angel wings, can only be obtained by crushing clams’ shells. In ancient days Baal and its moons had Terra-like atmospheres. Baal itself was always a world of red rust deserts, but its moons were close to paradises. As the Dark Age of Technology ended in the Age of Strife, civil war erupted between the world and its colonised moons, leading to the nuclear devastation of the planetary system. Baal Secundus has since been a nuclear-blasted desert world with deadly levels of radiation. This forced the world’s human tribes to build cumbersome radiation suits in order to survive. Mutants were once rife upon the world, frequently at war with the remaining pure humans for dominance of the planet.

In order to keep the Black Rage in check, on the eve of battle the Blood Angels bend their thoughts to prayer and to the sacrifice of their Primarch so many centuries ago. Chaplains move from man to man, blessing each in turn and noting those amongst the brotherhood whose eyes may appear a little glazed, or whose speech is slurred or over excited. Some, almost all, overcome this ancient intrusion into their minds. All of a warrior’s training is directed at controlling it, beating it down into the depths of their being. But for some the imprint of Sanguinius is too strong, the memories too loud and demanding. As the Chaplains chant the moripatris, the mass of doom, the chosen ones fall into the arms of their priests, and are taken away. The afflicted are formed into a special unit called the Death Company.

The homeworld of the Blood Angels is the planet Baal and its two moons, Baal Primus and Baal Secundus, from which the Blood Angels take their new recruits. The Blood Angels’ Primarch, Sanguinius, fell upon Baal Secundus after he and his brother Primarchs were scattered across the galaxy.The subsequent companies are ’Companies of Reserve’, composed of squads with the same designation who often act as support for the Battle Companies, as well as provide replacements for casualties by the line formations: the Sixth Company is made up of Battleline Squads, while the Seventh and Eighth Companies are a made up of Close Support Squads, and the Ninth Company has a full compliment of Fire Support Squads. Finally, the Tenth Company is composed of the Chapter’s scouts, aspirants who have not yet earned their place as full-fledged Marines of the Chapter. They also have recently come to include Vanguard Space Marine troops.

So the big question is: for the points cost of 10 sanguinary guard + banner + Dante + priest or librarian, can this unit win close combat against anything? The reason I say that is because this is going to be a lot of points and there are a lot of potential counters to it. I agree with taking the banner for sure if you take 10 men. There’s still the problem of where to deep strike with a squad this big too. Generally I like to deep strike behind some cover, or at least far enough away from the enemy to avoid their shooting phase. A squad this size might have to start on the table and that might affect the army list as a whole.I think a single larger squad may be the way to go. I tend to play opponents with lots of plasma and melta, which makes getting close difficult. Dante out front to take a hits and a priest for the FNP might be the way to go. Likewise I think librarian could help these guys a lot either with Divination or sanguinary disciplines.I ran a 10 man squad a handful of times since the new book and I love them, I believe it’s definitely worth bulking out the numbers especially if you’re adding Dante and a priest.I like playing them at 7-man, Dante and a duel lightning claw Priest. Pricey but nasty. Gonna try a ten-man version once I get a high enough point game.

effectiveness vs. cost what success have you had with SG? Is it better to just run a 5 man squad, or are the points worth the pain you can bring with a full 10 man squad?I think taking 6-8 + Dante is where I’d go with it in a jumper list. I think these guys are capable in hand to hand, but will take heavy losses against another capable unit. Putting Dante with them will allow them to take on some nastier things and get that nice warlord trait. In a smaller game I think a priest with the wings relic would be helpful too. Bottomline: I think 10 man squad though very cool, won’t show a quality return on the points investment. If he throws everything at them, they still take an awful lot of fire and cover will offset plasma and melta somewhat. Meanwhile, that’s a whole load of shooting which isn’t being directed at your other units, who will get to do their business. If he does anything but focus on the SG from the start, you can pretty much guarantee they will run riot. Firstly and most importantly, this unit is SO much fun to use. Secondly, they are very strong as a main assault element. As with all things it depends on your build and style.

I was curious as to how others run them as well. I run two 5 man squads, each with 2x infernus pistols. I’ve had moderate success with them deepstriking into the enemy backfield. I’m not thrilled with their performance lately and I think I’m going to change to a bigger squad… and maybe keep the infernus pistols (I tend to complain about them, but generally end up needing them at some point). I’ve been thinking a lot about cheap powerfists too.Found the Libby to be inefficient. A priest is a better buy. Taking him as warlord with the veritas vitae gives you a good chance of getting move through cover and / or infiltrate, which should guarantee you a turn two assault.

If one only has enough points to either take (a) a 7-man squad with Chapter Banner or (b ) an 8-man squad without banner — either with Dante plus priest — what do you think is better?5 – man SG is a no-go really and is the reason they were so rarely used before the new dex. They would lose a few men to fire and quickly become ineffective.