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Stopped playing at the beginning of 7th edition, 8th seems pretty interesting but have a few questions about it

- Aside from the rulebook and army codex, is there anything else I need? What do the datacards do?

- Starting blood angels, have the Start Collection set and a box of death company. What else is good right now for them? Looking to build a fast and aggressive army built for melee or close range shooting.

- A few friends are starting 40k as well, whats a good way for them to get into the lore. I remember the old rulebook had a big fluff section that talked about everything from the heresy to "present" times. Does the 8th ed rulebook have a similar section?

A certain pork-product based feline/insect will be along in a bit. Ignore him.

1- Generally yes, though it is kinda compulsory to have the relevant FAQ to hand. Things have changed from the print books. You may need the index if you have things like Librarians on bikes etc. as these are not in the codex.

2- Don't play BA, so I can't answer that one.

3- Good places to start are the 40k wiki and Lexicanum. Stay away from 1d4chan.

apparently BA captains with a jump pack, thunderhammer and stormshield are really good right now

regarding the rulebook, yes indeed it has some lore in it. and is a good way to get up to speed on things. you may want to read it yourself, if you've stopped paying attention to 40k there are going to be some suprises in store for you.

Just as a Teaser, Abbadon won at Cadia (the planet got blown up) and Robute Gulliman has returned.

For BA scouts and captains(jump packs generally but bikes can work as well) are good and indeed BA without captain or two with jump pack, stormshield and thunderhammer is not in a good shape. GW practically made those mandatory.

Librarian dreadnought is bit pricey but feels nice. Character with less than 10 wounds so he can't be shot unless it's closer. Try casting quickening and if works wings of sanquinius. You moved normal movement in movement phase, then 12" with wings and then 2d6"+3" charge. Can be pretty sweet way to get dreadnought into combat.

Depending on how competive you want look into expanding allies. 8th ed is edition of soup(ie using multiple codexes). Right now one of the top builds is IG(CP and cheap chaff), blood angels(scouts and smash captains described above) and knights. If your game group is competive you are going to be giving huge handicap if you play only one faction without allies. In more relaxed less optimized lists it can work though.

Avoid assault marines. If you want jump pack guys either death company, sanquinary guard or veteran jump pack guys(vanquard veterans?) if BA had access to them.

A Slam Captain or two (A jump pack thunderhammer), I think you can build them out of Veteran boxes a little cheaper moneywise (not 100% but sure some one can correct me)

Thanks for the responses! What's wrong/ different with Assault Marines? Loved them in 5th and 6th. Definitely will be bringing death company though

 Dalek Sec wrote:
Thanks for the responses! What's wrong/ different with Assault Marines? Loved them in 5th and 6th. Definitely will be bringing death company though

They're really quite bad unfortunately. They are way overcosted considering they only have one attack per model. As far as melee powerhouses go assault marines are basically at the bottom of the pile. Death company would serve you much better. Sanguinary guard are also pretty solid (expensive though).

Also vanguard veterans are another option, they're basically assault marines but better in every way that counts.