War is always a terrible business, but it needn’t be a concerning exercise in cruelty or a brutal, merciless grind. For the truly enlightened, combat is an artform, and there are no greater artists than the Blood Angels – a Legion of noble paladins who are as much poets and painters as they are bloodthirsty killers.
Rising from the ashes of madness to spread their beautiful (and mostly metaphorical) wings, the IX Legion are a source of inspiration to all warriors of the Legiones Astartes. They’re also the next stop on our tour through the Emperor’s Space Marine Legions, and we won’t even pretend to be impartial here – they’re just that bloody good.
Although their reputation for beauty and nobility is known across the galaxy 10,000 years later – even as other would-be artists embraced the dark arts of autotune – few remember the gloomy origins of the Blood Angels. While more carefree Astartes raced across the wider battlefields of Unification, the IX Legion were pressed into wars of annihilation against especially horrific, mutated foes – and recruited from the same sorts, their induction process transforming even irradiated ghouls into photogenic supermen.
The IX Legion was unnervingly self-sufficient, bouncing back from destruction time and again. Lost troops? Implant your gene-seed into some prisoners! Out of ammo? You’ve got fists, use them! Low on rations? Any enemy is a ration if you’re brave enough! Even dead officers could be replaced – Space Marines have a neat trick called the omophagea, which lets them absorb memories by eating brains, and these guys were really good at it.
These dietary habits made the Revenant Legion – as Malcador the Sigilite came to call them – far from popular on the Great Crusade… but that would all change when their angelic Primarch was discovered, on the rad-scorched moon of Baal Secundus.
By the time of the Horus Heresy – following an extensive PR campaign by their beloved Primarch – the Blood Angels were regarded as the pinnacle of the Legiones Astartes. The IX Legion’s mastery of shock assault matched even their most feral cousins, and with significantly less shedding to boot. A fine red wine* compared to the Fenrisians’ throat-blistering mjød, the sons of Sanguinius exemplify everything that is admirable and refined in the Great Crusade’s ideals.
And if a few bodies still go missing after the odd battle? Well, that’s a small price to pay for angelic deliverance.
As their name might suggest, the Blood Angels revel in close combat, ever eager to tear up their foes with chain bayonets, elegantly-crafted power spears, or a size-30 boot if it’s all that’s available. Their barely-restrained Encarmine Fury is unleashed when charging into battle, making it easier to wound their victims – even fellow Space Marines can’t withstand a Baal-style beating.
This preference for explosive close-range assaults also lead the IX Legion to an enduring love affair with the fearsome inferno pistol, perfect for cracking open targets too tough for the sharpest sword. The Blood Angels can replace volatile plasma pistols with a tank’s worst enemy – and at their preferred engagement distance of “in your face”, the weapon’s short range is of little concern.
The notion that a child born with wings would survive into adulthood might sound outlandish for those familiar with the modern Imperium. Fortunately, Sanguinius found himself dumped in a more hospitable environment – a barren desert moon, bathed in lethal radiation. Taken in by one of the rad-scarred human tribes of Baal Secundus, the Primarch’s wise insight, divine charisma, and incredible combat skills saw him bring peace to Baal, worshipped as a god incarnate.
Spoilers: that’s not the sort of thing the Emperor looks kindly upon.
A powerful precognitive, much like his moodier brother Konrad, Sanguinius knew exactly how his old man would react to mutants, religions, and religious mutants – and when the Emperor eventually made his way to Baal Secundus, the Primarch pledged his undying loyalty, on the condition that no-one looked too closely at his home world.
Sanguinius sculpted his new Legion with the skill of an artisan, turning them from maligned savages into objects of reverence throughout the Imperium. Anger management courses, art classes, elocution lessons – anything to distract people from the whole ‘eating other people’ situation. His noble compassion and ravishing good looks made Sanguinius popular among his brothers and the galaxy at large – he was often held up as the Emperor’s destined successor.
Spoilers: that’s not the sort of thing Horus looks kindly upon.
Knowing how badly they’d beat any Traitor who stood before them, Horus dispatched the IX Legion to the farthest reaches of space before unveiling his master plan. Marooned far from home and plunged into a daemonic trap in the Signus Cluster, Sanguinius and his sons were set upon by hordes of warp-spawned monstrosities. Here, they came face-to-face with their greatest foe: Ka’bandha, a keen contender for Khorne’s reddest, angriest bag of blades.
While his Space Marines scoured the planet of daemons, the Primarch battled the Daemon General in the skies of Signus Prime. An unlucky encounter with Ka’bandha’s whip broke his legs, but Sanguinius walked it off and his forces claimed victory over Chaos – only to discover the truth of their Warmaster’s treachery.
With no word forthcoming from Terra itself, and the vast Ruinstorm cutting off warp travel, Sanguinius met up with Lion El’Jonson to hear Guilliman’s plan – they’d make their own Imperium, but better. Sanguinius would even get to be Emperor! Alas, brotherly arguments showed it’d never work in practice, and after a psychic vision convinced Sanguinius their father was alive, the tardy trio made all speed for the Throneworld.
With the aid of diversionary attacks from their fellow (albeit less beautifully-coiffed) Angels, the Blood Angels were one of the few Legions to join their wall-camping cousins before the Siege of Terra began. There, fate would see the Angel Encarmine battle Ka’bandha once more – and this time he put in a cracking performance.
We’ve yet to see how the Siege of Terra ends, but based on Sanguinius’ track record, it seems a pretty safe bet that he’ll emerge from this whole fiasco without a scratch.
The tales of the Blood Angels’ heroism are multitudinous, and with so many authors and poets among their ranks, it stands to reason there’s a wealth of Black Library novels charting their adventures. Relive their epic confrontation with the daemons of Chaos in Fear to Tread, and follow up with Unremembered Empire to discover how the doomed Imperium Secundus made its mark on Warhammer history.
One Blood Angel in particular made his name in the Siege of Terra – Dominion Zephon’s struggles alongside the famous Tech-Priest Arkhan Land are recorded in The Master of Mankind and Bringer of Sorrow. He even got his own model out of it!
Planning to dedicate your Warhammer: The Horus Heresy – Age of Darkness box to the sons of Sanguinius? Give your noble warriors an appropriately crimson coat of paint with our comprehensive painting guide.
If you’re still not sure if a life of close combat artistry is for you, head to the Horus Heresy website and take the Discover Your Legion quiz – you’ll also find plenty of information on the game’s new edition to get your creative juices flowing.
* …that is wine, right?