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So the Shields of Baal box has lit a bit of interest for the Blood Angrls in the tabletop. Not the fluff. And while some things are easy to understand, the Black Rage, the Furioso, so on and so forth, there's some bits that are just leaving me with a 'da fuuuu' expression. Why is every tank 'fast'? How is it that the Lascannon Predators can keep up with an Eldar Grav-tank? Have the Blood Angels rediscovered fourth gear but haven't shared their tank transmission secrets with the rest of the Galaxy? And why the bleeding feth does a Land Raider have Deep Strike??? I get the points increases are because of an old codex, but all of this has been FAQed and untouched. My source is the digital (might not be most recent update) EPUB but still I can't find anything contrary on the current FAQ after a brief glance.

Is there a fluff reason for these shenanigans, or is it some relics of old rules they get to keep because GW says they can for now and I shouldn't get comfy playing them this way because the new codex is inbound.

I'm almost certain Mat Ward wrote the last BA codex. Hence all vehicles being fast, and LR deep striking.

In the WD Blood Angel update previous to that, I think fast vehicles was an upgrade you paid points for. And the DS LRs is explained in the fluff as being dropped from the skies, but God knows why only BA can do that. Just a lazy fluff cover up.

Honestly, you should do more research in fluff if you think the tech priests are keen on sharing their secrets, I mean this video wasn't purely made for fun:



In regards to land raiders, IIRC the BA are almost the only chapter that dares to risk landing their thunder hawks in a contested battlefield so that explains the DS. Honestly though, it's nowhere near as bad as you would expect it to be and with the massive footprint the land raider has, it's quite hazardous and easy to mishap with it.

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
. Why is every tank 'fast'? How is it that the Lascannon Predators can keep up with an Eldar Grav-tank? Have the Blood Angels rediscovered fourth gear but haven't shared their tank transmission secrets with the rest of the Galaxy?

Err, basically, yes! They developed the Lucifer Pattern engine to allow their armoured support to keep pace with their fast-moving assault spearheads and take part in their hyper-aggressive attacks. Due to a long-standing resentment between the Blood Angels and the Mechanicum, they have not shared this, in much the same way as the original Stormraven (although now everyone has these for some reason)

And why the bleeding feth does a Land Raider have Deep Strike???

Again, to fit with the fast assault strategies. They can't fit the Lucifer engines to Land Raiders, so they perform low-altitude insertions from Thunderhawk transports to get the LR at the spearhead.

Is there a fluff reason for these shenanigans, or is it some relics of old rules they get to keep because GW says they can for now and I shouldn't get comfy playing them this way because the new codex is inbound.

See above, fluff reasons and good ones at that. They may be older rules, but I shall be very surprised and irate if either are removed from the new codex.

Fun fun. then I can actually build a list with these ideas in mind. Though I'll prolly hold off painting the Land Raider in red until that new Codex drops, just in case it is better suited for my Ultramarines at the end of the day. Deep Strike and Fast Attack seems the way to go with these guys, fluffwise and gamewise. Great for casual games against bike squad opponents.

I think in the 5th edition codex there's a comment about the BAs having a disproportionately large number of land raiders compared to other chapters, so they might be less reluctant to drive one out of a thunderhawk.

But yes, they do have Lucifer pattern engines which are makes their rhino chassis vehicles go faster (not the LRs sadly) and haven't shared the design with the mechanicum to give to all their multi coloured chums.

I can't wait to see what the new codex bring when it finally drops.

D