[0:00] and it's left them with this
[0:01] allconsuming desire to drink blood.
[0:05] Really don't like people knowing that.
[0:09] Hi, welcome to IGN. I'm Arbiter and I
[0:12] talk about Warhammer on the internet and
[0:14] I'm here today to talk about the space
[0:16] marines who are the cover stars of the
[0:18] new edition of Warhammer 40k. But the
[0:21] universe is a big place and whatever
[0:24] happens,
[0:26] you will not be missed.
[0:31] So, if you're relatively new to
[0:32] Warhammer, you might be wondering what's
[0:34] going on here. Why are the Space Marines
[0:36] on the cover of this box not blue? After
[0:39] all, in every big Warhammer release of
[0:41] the last few years, they've been blue.
[0:43] So, why are these ones red? Well, today
[0:46] we're going to talk about the Blood
[0:48] Angels, a completely different chapter
[0:50] to the Ultramarines. We will not be
[0:51] mentioning Ultramarines again in this,
[0:54] if I can help it.
[0:57] So, who are the Blood Angels? The Blood
[1:00] Angels are one of many chapters of Space
[1:02] Marines. Space Marines are divided down
[1:04] into armies that are pretty
[1:06] self-sufficient of about a thousand
[1:08] marines called chapters. Each of them
[1:10] can pick their own battles, go where
[1:12] they like, and fight wherever they wish.
[1:14] The Blood Angels are just one of them,
[1:15] but they're one of the oldest ones. Like
[1:17] the Ultramarines. Ah, damn. I mentioned
[1:19] them again. Like the Ultramarines, they
[1:21] can be traced back to the very start of
[1:23] the Space Marines, to the Emperor's
[1:25] Great Crusade back before the Horus
[1:28] Heresy. Back then, they were the ninth
[1:30] legion of the Legion Estates, led by
[1:33] their primarch, Sanguinius, often
[1:35] considered one of the most honorable and
[1:37] noble primarchs. But he was also
[1:39] conflicted, worried about some
[1:42] interesting flaws in the genetic makeup
[1:45] of his sons. Obviously, the big one
[1:48] there was the massive angel wings
[1:50] sticking out of his back. That's not the
[1:51] sort of mutation the Imperium usually
[1:53] tolerates, but I guess he was a
[1:54] primarch. But amongst his sons, who
[1:57] uniformly appeared to be these
[1:59] beautiful, noble, honorable Marines, uh
[2:02] there were some slightly more hidden
[2:04] problems.
[2:06] Anyway, to talk about those, we have to
[2:07] answer a couple of questions.
[2:08] Particularly, what is the red thirst and
[2:11] what is the black rage? These are the
[2:13] two things that kind of define the
[2:15] chapter in a lot of ways. These are two
[2:18] flaws, one of them genetic and one of
[2:20] them kind of psychic, that the blood
[2:21] angels have been plagued by for
[2:23] millennia. The red thirst is a genetic
[2:27] flaw associated with the omasia gland,
[2:30] which is one of the things all space
[2:31] marines have. It lets them eat the
[2:33] brains of their enemies to find out what
[2:36] the enemy was thinking. Very good space
[2:38] magic there. Anyway, the one in the
[2:39] Blood Angels is a bit weird and it's
[2:42] left them with this allconsuming desire
[2:45] to drink blood. This was evident from
[2:48] the very earliest days of the Blood
[2:49] Angels. It was something they tried to
[2:50] cover up back when they were a legion.
[2:52] They really don't like people knowing
[2:54] that and it can sometimes lead the Blood
[2:55] Angels to lose control, especially in
[2:57] close combat. They can devolve into a
[2:59] sort of berserk anim animalistic state.
[3:01] The second of their flaws is the black
[3:03] rage. This only started at the end of
[3:05] the Horus heresy after their primarch,
[3:06] Sanguinius, was killed by Horus. Those
[3:09] afflicted are tormented by visions of
[3:12] the death of Sanguinius. So much they
[3:14] cease to be able to tell their visions
[3:16] from reality and again devolve into a
[3:18] sort of berserk mindless state. While
[3:21] the Red Thirst is somewhat controllable,
[3:23] the Black Rage usually leaves those
[3:25] Space Marines unable to function within
[3:27] the normal restrictions of the chapter.
[3:29] And so they're grouped into something
[3:30] called a death company. Their armors
[3:32] painted black with big red crosses on
[3:35] it, and they're sent into the heart of
[3:37] the enemy to hopefully seek a noble
[3:39] death in battle. Both of these dark
[3:42] flaws are things that the Blood Angels
[3:44] and all of their successor chapters have
[3:46] been struggling with and trying to hide
[3:49] for 10,000 years. They're kind of like
[3:52] the tragically flawed but beautiful Anne
[3:56] Rice style vampires of the Warhammer 40k
[3:58] setting.
[4:01] The current leader of the chapter is
[4:02] Commander Dante. Usually considered to
[4:06] be one of the oldest Space Marine
[4:08] commanders. Currently in the 41st
[4:10] millennium, he's reaching about 1,500 by
[4:13] this point. And apparently he's he's
[4:15] really feeling it. He's assisted by his
[4:17] chief librarian. That's sort of the the
[4:20] head psychic space wizard of the
[4:22] chapter. Mephiston, the lord of death.
[4:25] Mephiston's an interesting character.
[4:27] He's the only space marine to have
[4:29] managed to sort of control and maybe
[4:32] transcend the black rage, and his
[4:35] exploits usually center on trying to
[4:37] find a way to reverse it or cure it or
[4:39] make it more manageable for the rest of
[4:41] the blood angels. That struggle has also
[4:43] given him incredible psychic power.
[4:47] So, what makes the Blood Angels unique
[4:49] on the battlefield, or at least
[4:50] different to those blue guys? The Blood
[4:52] Angels generally have been influenced by
[4:54] their flaws and their history with
[4:56] Sanguinius. Mostly, they're a close
[4:58] assault army, much more than a lot of
[5:00] other space marines. The Blood Angels
[5:02] want to be in melee. They want to be in
[5:04] the thick of it, usually where they can
[5:06] let their rigid control off the leash a
[5:09] little bit and allow that bloodthirsty
[5:11] vampire to do a bit of the work for
[5:12] them. And unlike the I guess combined
[5:15] arms approach of some more rigidly
[5:18] controlled chapters, the Blood Angels
[5:19] have sort of built their whole chapter
[5:21] around this idea. They're a fast assault
[5:23] army making use of jump packs or drop
[5:26] deployments trying to get into the heart
[5:28] of the enemy as quickly as possible.
[5:30] Many of their specialist units are close
[5:32] combat units. We've already mentioned
[5:34] the death company wading into combat in
[5:36] the hopes of reaching some sort of
[5:37] honorable end, but veterans of the
[5:39] chapter can be recruited into the
[5:41] Sanguinary Guard. Originally the
[5:43] bodyguard of Sanguinius, now the
[5:45] bodyguard of the chapter commander. Upon
[5:48] elevation to the Sanguinary Guard, a
[5:50] blood angel casts aside their old name
[5:52] and personality and adopts instead a
[5:55] death mask with the visage of Sanguinius
[5:57] on it. Of course, the new box is called
[6:01] Armageddon. So, we should probably ask
[6:03] what is Armageddon other than a classic
[6:05] example of 40k naming conventions.
[6:07] Armageddon is an industrial world in the
[6:10] northern segmentum solar in the
[6:12] Imperium. It's an incredibly important
[6:14] industrial world because it manufactures
[6:16] arms and armaments for the astromeitarum
[6:19] who defend the Imperium. It's also a
[6:21] world that has come under threat
[6:23] constantly in the history of 40k. And as
[6:26] 11th edition rolls out, it's coming
[6:28] under threat again. Armageddon is
[6:30] something of an unlucky planet. It sits
[6:32] in a region of warp storms, which means
[6:34] it has in the past been invaded by chaos
[6:36] quite a lot. And it also used to be
[6:40] quite an important orc home world back
[6:42] in the days of the great crusade, which
[6:44] means that massive orc armies,
[6:46] particularly those under the command of
[6:48] Garzaclethra, have been drawn back to
[6:51] the planet again and again over the
[6:53] years. is and over those many many wars,
[6:55] lots of different Space Marine chapters
[6:57] have become involved in defending
[6:59] Armageddon. Usually leaving with some
[7:01] sort of debt of honor, some sort of role
[7:03] they've adopted as defenders of
[7:05] Armageddon. The Blood Angels deployed to
[7:07] Armageddon during the Second War for
[7:09] Armageddon, which was the first time it
[7:12] had been invaded by orcs for a while, in
[7:15] which Dante commanded a joint force of
[7:18] blood angels, ultramarines, and
[7:19] salamanders. So, the return to the
[7:21] planet isn't that unexpected. Like a lot
[7:23] of chapters, they feel they have an
[7:25] obligation to defend this world every
[7:27] time it comes under attack. Within the
[7:29] history of 40k, this new box set looks
[7:31] like it's going to be maybe the fourth
[7:33] war for Armageddon, which is actually
[7:36] like the seventh or eighth invasion of
[7:38] Armageddon. But if you'd like to find
[7:40] out what all those wars were and who was
[7:43] doing the invading, well, I handily have
[7:46] just made a video on that. Head over to
[7:47] Arbiteran on YouTube if you'd like me to
[7:50] break down all the different wars for
[7:52] Armageddon for you. And of course, if
[7:54] you're still wondering how to get into
[7:55] Warhammer, I've made a few videos for
[7:57] IGN on the subject, and there's a wealth
[7:59] of videos over on my channel. Have fun
[8:01] defending the planet of Armageddon from
[8:03] a bunch of orcs. Again,
[8:06] >> there is only war.