The Power of Feel No Pain

Back when the 3rd Blood Angels codex was released Gav Thorpe introduced two new rules at the time that have been heavily copied by other developers, none more so than 5ed - they are furious charge and feel no pain (FNP). It often amazes me how heavily copied these are - I think every 5ed codex has them both now. It used to be that with FNP you could shrug off plasma (AP2)... just think how good that could be now. The PDF version of the Blood Angels Chief Librarian McFiston was a paltry T5 but with FNP back in 4ed edition he was virtually immune to AP2. Stick him in cover and he could shrug off both lascannons and plasmaguns - that's no joke either. Back then he could use FNP versus Perils of the Warp - the Lord of Death was T5 versus the S6 Perils attack - wounded on 67% and could then circumvent that with FNP on a 4+++. The odds of him taking an actual wound from Perils of the Warp was less than half the time (0.67*0.5)... an eldar Farseer was insta gibbed if he/she failed their 3+++ ward save.

So now we have armies such as Nidz that throw around FNP like it's candy. Sure it's great for those pesky gaunts but I've found it's much more effective for a small elite army such as Blood Angels. FNP keeps BA Marines and their terminators in the game far longer than say an equivalent SM army - that is one of the basic reasons why Blood Angels are so resilient now. You kill them en masse then they come right back at you. It might not seem fair but it's there... A lot like Necrons and their much hated res orb. I have won my share of games with the Blood Angelx because my Marines just refuse to die. Like I said - It is what it is.

G