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Ahoy fellow devotees of the Dark Gods!

I'm rather curious about what the BL supplement codex is like? For someone who loves the backstory, collecting/painting more so than just, "will it crush dominate 'Tournaments' and make people cry man-tears", is this book worth it?

I figure that like the Crimson Slaughter add-on you trade the basic CSM relics for the BL's own list, but other than that, what else gives here & how much added depth, (especially in terms of the unit markings/various warbands backgrounds/etc...) does the book add to the BL?

Thanks all!
Cheers!

For someone who loves the backstory, collecting/painting more so than just, "will it crush dominate 'Tournaments' and make people cry man-tears", is this book worth it?

For someone whose intreasts in the game lie along your lines I'd say the supplements are most likely worth it yes.

Honestly, Think of them like a sourcebook. the book is LOADED with lore and fluff, and only a smattering of new optional rules.

Very little besides a boring option to take chosen as troops IIRC.

Chosen troops, mandatory VOTLW where possible, option to upgrade a Terminator squad if Abaddon is your warlord, new selection of relics, and new selection of warlord traits.

Plus lots of fluffy goodness abounds, and a few new Altar of War missions.

It's totally not mandatory, and the Termi upgrade is mostly just to offset the waste of Abaddon's "chosen as troops" special rule. But it's a solid "sidegrade" to the Codex:CSM.

 Bi'ios wrote:
Chosen troops, mandatory VOTLW where possible, option to upgrade a Terminator squad if Abaddon is your warlord, new selection of relics, and new selection of warlord traits.

Plus lots of fluffy goodness abounds, and a few new Altar of War missions.

It's totally not mandatory, and the Termi upgrade is mostly just to offset the waste of Abaddon's "chosen as troops" special rule. But it's a solid "sidegrade" to the Codex:CSM.

I forgot about the shoot off Warbands in the book, but besides that I wouldn't consider it that special.

I rather enjoy it as a fluff and art book, but for rules, it's as stated above a sidegrade. The high points for me are the tales of Abaddon and the details about the various troops and warbands who have joined the crusades.

For giggles, there's an orbital strike relic.

 reiner wrote:
I rather enjoy it as a fluff and art book, but for rules, it's as stated above a sidegrade. The high points for me are the tales of Abaddon and the details about the various troops and warbands who have joined the crusades.

For giggles, there's an orbital strike relic.

I wouldn't even consider it a sidegrade, it's more or less a downgrade with poorer artifacts, poor rules (VOTLW means you'll want to load as many cultists to offset the penalty), the terminator upgrade is horrifically costed..

yeah as said above... this is NOT a sidegrade (rules wise)

for rules:
it makes expensive models MORE expensive, you must put VOTLW on everything.
yes you can upgrade termis for +5pts, + VOTLW so they become crazy costly.
chosen as troops.. wooo hoo.... pass, sorry they just dont cut it for me.

umm for fluff and all... i rather like it i dont have crimson slaughter yet, its better rules wise i hear. though must say like many devotees of the dark gods, i want a Thousand Sons book BADLY.

Sorry if it's obvious but I just don't see it, since when is VotLW considered overcosted?

Bringers of Despair is +6ppm, no 5 as someone said. It's also mandatory to add +3ppm for VoTLW which nullifies Chaos Terminators' main strength; being cheap terminators.

VoTLW is overcosted for some units as for some reason it's not a fixed price for everyone. Prime example being terminators.

As a BL devotee, I enjoy the fluff a lot. The exploits of my chosen legion are interesting to read about. The big problem here is that the rule "must take VoTLW on everything" is totally contradictory to the fluff in the very same book, where it basically states the BL has many warriors who weren't around for the heresy... As a result when it comes time to roll dice and move models I stick with the vanilla CSM codex.

If you're in for Chaos supplements, Crimson Slaughter is much better imho, if you like getting into assault then it's better than the core book.

 Shadox wrote:
Sorry if it's obvious but I just don't see it, since when is VotLW considered overcosted?

All the time, first off it's a poor rule (One turn hatred), works against a specific subset of armies (even if it's a common one), only works in melee (in a shooting edition yeah that'll help), and even then it's comparable to Chapter Tactics..Which is both better and Free

Chaos units need to be cheaper because they aren't that good, 33 point terminators for example cost the same as Wolf Guard Terminators with ATSKNF and wolf tactics, the cost also bumps you up to ATSKNF levels of cost marines but you aren't that good at all.

Thanks for the info everyone!

As I mentioned, I'm not concerned in the least if the BL supplement is tourney competitive or not, more in it for the background & art, etc...

Basically what I'm aiming for is just a small force that's essentially presented itself to a much larger force of an Oracles of Change warband and are demanding that the renegades swear their fealty to Abaddon.
All of which is an add-on to my main love, Chaos Daemons.

Looks like I'll try and pick-up a copy of the BL book at the local GW next week when I go down to pick-up a bitz order!

A 50 point power fist with instant death.

If youre in it for the fluff, the Crimson Slaughter supplement is far better. Happens to be more useful on the table too.

sand.zzz wrote:
A 50 point power fist with instant death.

If youre in it for the fluff, the Crimson Slaughter supplement is far better. Happens to be more useful on the table too.

I dunno, for what it's worth I enjoyed the BL fluff more. But then again I'm a fan of the old legions and just don't find GW's latest attempt to make us care about renegade chapters all that exciting

sand.zzz wrote:
A 50 point power fist with instant death.

If youre in it for the fluff, the Crimson Slaughter supplement is far better. Happens to be more useful on the table too.

A 50 point Single Attack that still has to go through WS, Inv save, and doesn't work on Eternal Warrior's... Not that bad on Vehicles though, with it's Armourbane and AP1, but In all the times I've seen the Hand of Darkness used it's never worked against characters it'd want to.

Fluff is pretty good though, not as good as Crimson, Which is in essence defining an entirely new warband rather then Abbadon's Pillaging and planning through the Imperium.

sand.zzz wrote:
A 50 point power fist with instant death.

If youre in it for the fluff, the Crimson Slaughter supplement is far better. Happens to be more useful on the table too.

I'm already using the CS book for the main body of Chaos Marines, as they give access to Possessed as Troops, a non-DP Malefic caster option and overall imho more Tzeentchian-like Warlord traits.

I really enjoyed the bit in the CS supplement about the Black Legion sending an emissary & retinue to the Crimson Slaughter to demand their fealty/tribute, and wanted to incorporate that into my own Oracles of Change...
If the background & hobby material is good, (which apparently it is!), then I don't mind picking up the BL supplement to do a "proper" retinue of Abaddon's chosen goonies.
Plus, the red & gold of the Oracles would look sweet next to the black & gold of the Legion, along with their similar iconography.

BrianDavion wrote:

sand.zzz wrote:
A 50 point power fist with instant death.

If youre in it for the fluff, the Crimson Slaughter supplement is far better. Happens to be more useful on the table too.

I dunno, for what it's worth I enjoyed the BL fluff more. But then again I'm a fan of the old legions and just don't find GW's latest attempt to make us care about renegade chapters all that exciting

I too am a fan of the old Legions, and had zero interest in the Crimson Slaughter lore. I got the book so I could field Div Sorcs. However, after reading through the book, Id say its the most interesting and well written 'fluff' contained in a codex.