Warhammer 40K Expert Explains Blood Angels and Armageddon

[00:00] and it's left them with this

[00:01] allconsuming desire to drink blood.

[00:05] Really don't like people knowing that.

[00:09] Hi, welcome to IGN. I'm Arbiter and I

[00:12] talk about Warhammer on the internet and

[00:14] I'm here today to talk about the space

[00:16] marines who are the cover stars of the

[00:18] new edition of Warhammer 40k. But the

[00:21] universe is a big place and whatever

[00:24] happens,

[00:26] you will not be missed.

[00:31] So, if you're relatively new to

[00:32] Warhammer, you might be wondering what's

[00:34] going on here. Why are the Space Marines

[00:36] on the cover of this box not blue? After

[00:39] all, in every big Warhammer release of

[00:41] the last few years, they've been blue.

[00:43] So, why are these ones red? Well, today

[00:46] we're going to talk about the Blood

[00:48] Angels, a completely different chapter

[00:50] to the Ultramarines. We will not be

[00:51] mentioning Ultramarines again in this,

[00:54] if I can help it.

[00:57] So, who are the Blood Angels? The Blood

[01:00] Angels are one of many chapters of Space

[01:02] Marines. Space Marines are divided down

[01:04] into armies that are pretty

[01:06] self-sufficient of about a thousand

[01:08] marines called chapters. Each of them

[01:10] can pick their own battles, go where

[01:12] they like, and fight wherever they wish.

[01:14] The Blood Angels are just one of them,

[01:15] but they're one of the oldest ones. Like

[01:17] the Ultramarines. Ah, damn. I mentioned

[01:19] them again. Like the Ultramarines, they

[01:21] can be traced back to the very start of

[01:23] the Space Marines, to the Emperor's

[01:25] Great Crusade back before the Horus

[01:28] Heresy. Back then, they were the ninth

[01:30] legion of the Legion Estates, led by

[01:33] their primarch, Sanguinius, often

[01:35] considered one of the most honorable and

[01:37] noble primarchs. But he was also

[01:39] conflicted, worried about some

[01:42] interesting flaws in the genetic makeup

[01:45] of his sons. Obviously, the big one

[01:48] there was the massive angel wings

[01:50] sticking out of his back. That's not the

[01:51] sort of mutation the Imperium usually

[01:53] tolerates, but I guess he was a

[01:54] primarch. But amongst his sons, who

[01:57] uniformly appeared to be these

[01:59] beautiful, noble, honorable Marines, uh

[02:02] there were some slightly more hidden

[02:04] problems.

[02:06] Anyway, to talk about those, we have to

[02:07] answer a couple of questions.

[02:08] Particularly, what is the red thirst and

[02:11] what is the black rage? These are the

[02:13] two things that kind of define the

[02:15] chapter in a lot of ways. These are two

[02:18] flaws, one of them genetic and one of

[02:20] them kind of psychic, that the blood

[02:21] angels have been plagued by for

[02:23] millennia. The red thirst is a genetic

[02:27] flaw associated with the omasia gland,

[02:30] which is one of the things all space

[02:31] marines have. It lets them eat the

[02:33] brains of their enemies to find out what

[02:36] the enemy was thinking. Very good space

[02:38] magic there. Anyway, the one in the

[02:39] Blood Angels is a bit weird and it's

[02:42] left them with this allconsuming desire

[02:45] to drink blood. This was evident from

[02:48] the very earliest days of the Blood

[02:49] Angels. It was something they tried to

[02:50] cover up back when they were a legion.

[02:52] They really don't like people knowing

[02:54] that and it can sometimes lead the Blood

[02:55] Angels to lose control, especially in

[02:57] close combat. They can devolve into a

[02:59] sort of berserk anim animalistic state.

[03:01] The second of their flaws is the black

[03:03] rage. This only started at the end of

[03:05] the Horus heresy after their primarch,

[03:06] Sanguinius, was killed by Horus. Those

[03:09] afflicted are tormented by visions of

[03:12] the death of Sanguinius. So much they

[03:14] cease to be able to tell their visions

[03:16] from reality and again devolve into a

[03:18] sort of berserk mindless state. While

[03:21] the Red Thirst is somewhat controllable,

[03:23] the Black Rage usually leaves those

[03:25] Space Marines unable to function within

[03:27] the normal restrictions of the chapter.

[03:29] And so they're grouped into something

[03:30] called a death company. Their armors

[03:32] painted black with big red crosses on

[03:35] it, and they're sent into the heart of

[03:37] the enemy to hopefully seek a noble

[03:39] death in battle. Both of these dark

[03:42] flaws are things that the Blood Angels

[03:44] and all of their successor chapters have

[03:46] been struggling with and trying to hide

[03:49] for 10,000 years. They're kind of like

[03:52] the tragically flawed but beautiful Anne

[03:56] Rice style vampires of the Warhammer 40k

[03:58] setting.

[04:01] The current leader of the chapter is

[04:02] Commander Dante. Usually considered to

[04:06] be one of the oldest Space Marine

[04:08] commanders. Currently in the 41st

[04:10] millennium, he's reaching about 1,500 by

[04:13] this point. And apparently he's he's

[04:15] really feeling it. He's assisted by his

[04:17] chief librarian. That's sort of the the

[04:20] head psychic space wizard of the

[04:22] chapter. Mephiston, the lord of death.

[04:25] Mephiston's an interesting character.

[04:27] He's the only space marine to have

[04:29] managed to sort of control and maybe

[04:32] transcend the black rage, and his

[04:35] exploits usually center on trying to

[04:37] find a way to reverse it or cure it or

[04:39] make it more manageable for the rest of

[04:41] the blood angels. That struggle has also

[04:43] given him incredible psychic power.

[04:47] So, what makes the Blood Angels unique

[04:49] on the battlefield, or at least

[04:50] different to those blue guys? The Blood

[04:52] Angels generally have been influenced by

[04:54] their flaws and their history with

[04:56] Sanguinius. Mostly, they're a close

[04:58] assault army, much more than a lot of

[05:00] other space marines. The Blood Angels

[05:02] want to be in melee. They want to be in

[05:04] the thick of it, usually where they can

[05:06] let their rigid control off the leash a

[05:09] little bit and allow that bloodthirsty

[05:11] vampire to do a bit of the work for

[05:12] them. And unlike the I guess combined

[05:15] arms approach of some more rigidly

[05:18] controlled chapters, the Blood Angels

[05:19] have sort of built their whole chapter

[05:21] around this idea. They're a fast assault

[05:23] army making use of jump packs or drop

[05:26] deployments trying to get into the heart

[05:28] of the enemy as quickly as possible.

[05:30] Many of their specialist units are close

[05:32] combat units. We've already mentioned

[05:34] the death company wading into combat in

[05:36] the hopes of reaching some sort of

[05:37] honorable end, but veterans of the

[05:39] chapter can be recruited into the

[05:41] Sanguinary Guard. Originally the

[05:43] bodyguard of Sanguinius, now the

[05:45] bodyguard of the chapter commander. Upon

[05:48] elevation to the Sanguinary Guard, a

[05:50] blood angel casts aside their old name

[05:52] and personality and adopts instead a

[05:55] death mask with the visage of Sanguinius

[05:57] on it. Of course, the new box is called

[06:01] Armageddon. So, we should probably ask

[06:03] what is Armageddon other than a classic

[06:05] example of 40k naming conventions.

[06:07] Armageddon is an industrial world in the

[06:10] northern segmentum solar in the

[06:12] Imperium. It's an incredibly important

[06:14] industrial world because it manufactures

[06:16] arms and armaments for the astromeitarum

[06:19] who defend the Imperium. It's also a

[06:21] world that has come under threat

[06:23] constantly in the history of 40k. And as

[06:26] 11th edition rolls out, it's coming

[06:28] under threat again. Armageddon is

[06:30] something of an unlucky planet. It sits

[06:32] in a region of warp storms, which means

[06:34] it has in the past been invaded by chaos

[06:36] quite a lot. And it also used to be

[06:40] quite an important orc home world back

[06:42] in the days of the great crusade, which

[06:44] means that massive orc armies,

[06:46] particularly those under the command of

[06:48] Garzaclethra, have been drawn back to

[06:51] the planet again and again over the

[06:53] years. is and over those many many wars,

[06:55] lots of different Space Marine chapters

[06:57] have become involved in defending

[06:59] Armageddon. Usually leaving with some

[07:01] sort of debt of honor, some sort of role

[07:03] they've adopted as defenders of

[07:05] Armageddon. The Blood Angels deployed to

[07:07] Armageddon during the Second War for

[07:09] Armageddon, which was the first time it

[07:12] had been invaded by orcs for a while, in

[07:15] which Dante commanded a joint force of

[07:18] blood angels, ultramarines, and

[07:19] salamanders. So, the return to the

[07:21] planet isn't that unexpected. Like a lot

[07:23] of chapters, they feel they have an

[07:25] obligation to defend this world every

[07:27] time it comes under attack. Within the

[07:29] history of 40k, this new box set looks

[07:31] like it's going to be maybe the fourth

[07:33] war for Armageddon, which is actually

[07:36] like the seventh or eighth invasion of

[07:38] Armageddon. But if you'd like to find

[07:40] out what all those wars were and who was

[07:43] doing the invading, well, I handily have

[07:46] just made a video on that. Head over to

[07:47] Arbiteran on YouTube if you'd like me to

[07:50] break down all the different wars for

[07:52] Armageddon for you. And of course, if

[07:54] you're still wondering how to get into

[07:55] Warhammer, I've made a few videos for

[07:57] IGN on the subject, and there's a wealth

[07:59] of videos over on my channel. Have fun

[08:01] defending the planet of Armageddon from

[08:03] a bunch of orcs. Again,

[08:06] >> there is only war.