The elite Sanguinary Guard of the Blood Angels first company are getting new Warhammer 40,000 miniatures, Games Workshop has revealed. They’re joined by an updated sculpt for the Sanguinor, a mysterious supernatural being that is entwined with the fate of the Chapter.
In the already-elite Space Marines, the Blood Angels are among the most revered and respected; and among the Blood Angels none are more vaunted than the Sanguinary Guard. Tracing their history to the Great Crusade, they were originally the bodyguard of the Primarch Sanguinius, clad in golden armor and equipped with the finest weapons.
That was 10,000 years before the current Warhamer 40k timeline, and the Blood Angels have received plenty of kickings since then. The last tally of the Sanguinary Guard came in the eighth edition Codex, which states there are just 25 members. Their exact numbers now might be a little different, since all but one of them was eaten by the Tyranids during the Devastation of Baal.
Their ranks have since been rebuilt with Primaris recruits. According to the Warhammer Community post announcing the new models, their “dwindling supply of relic armour, Angelus boltguns, and unmistakable death masks have been retrofitted to work with new Tacticus Mark X armour” – which is why we’ve got these shiny new models.
The new Sanguinary Guard models will come in multiples of three, rather than five. Their loadout options are going to change: the new unit will have the option to wield new encarmine spears as well as encarmine blades. It’s possible the new kit will cut down on the number of Inferno pistols available to the squad – currently every model can wield one of these point-blank melta pistols, but only the new sergeant is depicted carrying one.
Before the Adeptus Custodes became a fully-fledged Warhammer 40k faction, the Sanguinary Guard were the final word in elite, gold-armored supersoldiers. It’s possible that new smaller units will have slightly more powerful individual models, which would be fitting from a lore perspective, even if it’s irritating for players with a big collection of existing minis.
The Sanguinor is the latest of several Blood Angels characters to get upgraded with a bigger Primaris version. In the lore he’s an enigmatic figure, a spirit that appears to the Chapter in times of great need, imparting aid or wisdom seemingly at the behest of the dead Primarch.
Who or what the Sanguinor is remains a mystery, but we know where the title comes from. In the Horus Heresy books, Sanguinius serves for a brief time as the Emperor of Imperium Secundus. To free himself from the tedious work of receiving petitioners, he appoints the leader of the Sanguinary Guard, Azakaellon, to be his proxy, giving him the title ‘Sanguinor’.
If Azakaellon somehow became the supernatural Sanguinor, we don’t yet know how or when that occurred. Azakaellon was present on Terra during the last days of the Siege, succumbing to the Black Rage when Sanguinius was slain, but ultimately surviving the great tragedy.
GW hasn’t yet revealed when these new minis will release, but we expect them to come out alongside the updated Blood Angels Warhammer 40k Codex supplement later this year. To keep up to date with the latest Warhammer 40k news, make sure you’re subscribed to Wargamer on Google News.
Source: Wargamer
