So, it looks like Blood Ravens are finally going to get some rules. Next months White dwarf will have an index entry for them, much like it did for the crimson fists. The Blood Ravens have actually been around for a while. In fact, they even got their chapter master made into a mini. He got rules but the rest of the chapter didn’t. Well, after existing for well over a decade since their first appearance in dawn of war, they are getting rules.
Who Are The Blood Ravens?
The Blood Ravens are a loyalist chapter of space marines (though they do tend to have a lot people turning heretic). Moreover, they are defined by their relentless pursuit of relics and unusually high number of Psykers( Maybe they got all of the Black Templars rejected ones?). The Blood Ravens also don’t know who their primogenitor chapter is, nor what primarch is their genesire. One prevailing theory is that they are a loyalist offshoot of the Thousand Sons. There is no direct confirmation on this, but there is mention of a loyalist chapter of Thousand Sons called the Corvidae (Which is a scientific family name that includes ravens). The other thing Blood Ravens are most know for is the memes created via “inspired” voice acting and “unique” tactics.
The Crunch
First up is Gabe, the Blood Ravens chapter master. He is a chapter master in terminator armor with his unique weapon God Splitter. You can either swing it like any old thunder hammer or do a sweeping blow that adds 3 to the attack characteristic. Which, in turn gives him a little clout against units with only one wound. He also gains the ability to do mortal wounds after charging and lets Blood Ravens re-roll hit rolls. This is actually a nice buff as it lets you re-roll all hit rolls not just the ones that failed. All for 185 points which isn’t too shabby.
Chapter Tactics
The Blood Ravens Chapter Tactics is Relentless Seekers. What this does is make it so a unmodified wound roll of a 1 or 2 is always a failure. Additionally, you can re-roll 1’s for psychic tests and deny the witch tests for psykers. Ok, the first one is a tad odd, and I don’t know how to feel about it. While this is nice against stuff that is Str 8 or higher it’s still not anything to write home about. Mainly, it just seems a bit situational. The re-rolls that psykers get seems decent though.
Stratagem
Blood Ravens are also getting at least one Stratagem that we know about. Chief Librarian(1CP) is a Stratagem used before the game to power up one of your Librarians. The Librarian knows an additional power and can deny an extra power each psychic phase. This one can be quite nice to have, if you want your Librarian to pull some extra weight.
Their Relic
So the Relic they get access too is the Purgatorus. This weapon takes the place of a bolt pistol or heavy bolt pistol. It’s a 2 shot pistol with Strength 5 AP-3 and 2 Damage. This relic is kind of unimpressive. The fact is that there are generic relics that are better to take, but if your swimming in CP then sure, why not.
In Conclusion
The rules so far seem ok. They aren’t very impressive, and I am hoping that they get more relics and stratagems than what we have seen so far. Does this make Blood Ravens bad? No, this doesn’t make them bad, but it doesn’t really fix the fact that loyalist space marines are underwhelming. Having said this, it is still nice to see them get rules, and it will be really nice if your opponent is bringing a lot of high strength weapons.
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