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I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for decent sources for Blood Angels lore? I've decided to do all the Marines I have as Blood Angels as I really like their vibe (and let's face it, vampires are always cool). I was going to pick up older Codices but I was wondering which editions had the best background, stories, and art in them (John Blanche's art was always a favourite) but also were there any decent Black Library books that would be worth my while? I have my eye on the 2nd ed Codex as I always loved the cover but between then and now is a mysterious void to me.

I don't know about the current lore but the Horus Heresy book Fear to Tread explains some of the BA origin stories including the Red Thirst and sets up the Black Rage/Death Company. But not Sanguinius' origin IIRC.

Kayback wrote:
I don't know about the current lore but the Horus Heresy book Fear to Tread explains some of the BA origin stories including the Red Thirst and sets up the Black Rage/Death Company. But not Sanguinius' origin IIRC.

Cool, thanks for the recommendation, I will keep an eye out for that. I'd like to prioritise material that would inform my painting and battle style but definitely interested in the "ancient history" of the far future too.

Horla wrote:
(and let's face it, vampires are always cool)

Twilight says hi.
Fellow son of Sanguinius here, hiya! The 2nd ed Codex (Angels of Death) has some good material in there, and a sizeable amount of the colour schemes and so on.
5th was a good one, too.

 Super Ready wrote:

Horla wrote:
(and let's face it, vampires are always cool)

Twilight says hi.

Well, there are exceptions...

 Super Ready wrote:
Fellow son of Sanguinius here, hiya! The 2nd ed Codex (Angels of Death) has some good material in there, and a sizeable amount of the colour schemes and so on.
5th was a good one, too.

Nice, will look for that one too. I'm sure I can find all this stuff online but it's not my style.

Ebay's your best bet, I managed to find a copy of the 2nd ed book myself just a few months back - from a seller in Malta, no less.
Also, can answer slightly better now that I'm not also meant to be working.

So, the 5th ed Codex is great for a lot of the lore and also some great artwork, but it's the more recent artwork, so no Blanche or anything close to his style really.
I recommended the 2nd ed book not just because of that artwork, but also because it goes into really good detail about how the Chapter applies its Codex markings. Some things have changed, mind - they've dropped black shoulder trims along the way, for example.

The 3rd ed book is to be avoided, as it's very barebones in comparison, the way that pretty much all the 3rd ed Codexes were. If you see it going cheap it's for a reason!!

The 8th ed main Codex and Psychic Awakening book (Blood of Baal?) has the most up to date lore and rules, but... it seems they will at least in part be superceded by the new Marine Codex coming in October. There's a leaked screenshot of their Chapter Tactics in that new book along with the other "special" Chapters (even Space Wolves!), so smart money is on a supplement coming at some point... but how long that will be after October is another matter.

Novel wise I reccomend Dante and Devestation of Baal

You could also read the Mepheston books, as long as you don't mind a book not starring the title character. I didn't like them myself. However, Dante and Devastation of Baal are good books, as recommended above.

I didn't reccomend mephestion simply because I've not read em and thus can't comment on their quality one way or another.

BTW there's an upcoming BA focused book in october or november it looks like. a Sequal to devestation of Baal. can't wait tor read it!

Thanks folks, will be busy hunting these down over the next few weeks.

Read the new Mephiston book - its truely awful.

Pick up the Shield of Baal Campaign book

Don't buy any of the novels by James Swallow. Just don't. Please.

For how to paint them: Various codexes.
For other lore: The omnibus from James Swallow (some people love to say how bad they are, they're in actuality fine, just not everyone's cup of tea). Dante. Devastation of Baal. Haven't read enough of the Mephiston books to have an opinion, but they should give more insight regardless.

I see Warhammer Community has a lore primer now up and it recounts Captain Tycho’s move to the Death Company. It also said he died, which is one thing I hadn’t realised. Is this a new element to the story or just one I’ve missed (so far I’ve gotten as far as reading the 2nd Ed codex after picking it up on eBay, Tycho is still with the 3rd Company there).

Horla wrote:
I see Warhammer Community has a lore primer now up and it recounts Captain Tycho’s move to the Death Company. It also said he died, which is one thing I hadn’t realised. Is this a new element to the story or just one I’ve missed (so far I’ve gotten as far as reading the 2nd Ed codex after picking it up on eBay, Tycho is still with the 3rd Company there).

Tycho has been dead for a while. He has two datasheets to represent him, one pre-3rd War for Armageddon and one during the 3rd War for Armageddon when he fell to the Black Rage. I can't remember exactly when the Death Company version was first released.

Tycho died in the Armageddon 3 campaign in the Death Company. The Armageddon 3 campaign was a world wide campaign in 2000. That would be late 3rd edition after Blood Angels already had a codex. Blood Angels didn't have a 4th edition codex, only some White Dwarf articles. But in their 5th edition codex they included his death and both profiles for him.

Man I feel as old as Veteran Sergeant Cleutin.

Tygre wrote:
Tycho died in the Armageddon 3 campaign in the Death Company. The Armageddon 3 campaign was a world wide campaign in 2000. That would be late 3rd edition after Blood Angels already had a codex. Blood Angels didn't have a 4th edition codex, only some White Dwarf articles. But in their 5th edition codex they included his death and both profiles for him.

Man I feel as old as Veteran Sergeant Cleutin.

If it’s any consolation, I had already given up 40K for about 5 years by the time these events happened. It was shocking enough to find out that there were now two profiles, let alone that he was dead!