Blood Angels Tactical Unboxing & Review

The release of the Blood Angels Tactical Squad has been met with much excitement! There have been themed sets before for the Dark Angels, Black Templars and even elite Blood Angels units, but this is the first real tactical box for one Chapter - or Legion if you want to include the Successor Chapters. So this morning we toddled down to GW and bought a box - come have a look inside. 
+ + More After The Jump + +

~ WARNING - 
Having taken 40 pics - my camera then broke - so these pictures are courtesy of my scratched HTC M8

Backpacks

The first thing you notice about this kit is just how ornate it is. If you've previously had the Death Company box, then this is quite similar. EVERY backpack is not only covered in iconography, but it also hangs from it.
All the elements are here; the chalice, the blood drops, and the vials of blood. With this diversity of symbols, using this for any of the Successor Chapters would be quite easy. Potentially the Lamenters may have less blood drops, but that's open to debate.

Torsos

Equally the torsos are heavily decorated and interestingly the piece just above the groin. I think the Space Wolves box was the first to do this as an option, but here it is moulded on in all it's glory!
The officer torso is reminiscent of the Sanguinary Guard and sure to be a favourite!
There's also what looks to be a MKIV armoured torso too which should prove popular (left bottom)!

Helmets

I always worry about iconography on helmets - it seems to overshadow the eyes and make the head look less streamlined. I generally don't use those bits,  but looking at the Blood Angels heads, they do fit in with the current look of the Chapter. As you can see there are multiple options for the heads including a MKIV (not as nice as the Forge World ones) and what they erroneously call a MKIII head. Great to have so many MKVI options as they seem to fit the Blood Angels look so well!

Shoulder Pads

Obviously taking a leaf out of the Death Company box, the Blood Angels Tactical shoulder pads are also heavily ornate, negating the need for transfers - which sadly are lacking in this kit!
There are no tactical symbols or Successor Chapter symbols which is a real shame! Some nice crisp while numbers would have been nice for the knees and shoulders too.

Legs

Like the shoulder pads, the legs also draw from the Death Company and Sanuguinary Guard sets with elements of those two mixed in randomly. The Blood Angels force will now look very united and amazing on the tabletop! Notice the vials of blood also hanging from the legs like the backpacks.

Weapons

The weapons allocation follows the current generic Tactical boxed set, with the addition of the Heavy Flamer and for the first time a Heavy Bolter. The Blood Angels also get Grav-Guns in all their forms!

Arms

If you are familiar with the Death Company box these arms will look familiar. They are very similar - but notice the insides (left) are hollow... odd!! As we desperately hope for GW to one day bring us ball and socket Space Marines, maybe this is a start?
Also included is this epic Power Fist (below) - a fist that Roboute Guilliman himself would be jealous of! 

The Elephant In The Room...

There are of course all kinds of elements you, like me, will slowly discover - but the big change is the larger bases. You may have read about this online, but this is now the new size for Space Marines. It's not known if this is a roiling change or if the boxes in store will be replaced. Considering most boxes are packaged in the country they are sold in, you would think swapping these out would be pretty easy and straight forward to do and have in store within a short period of time.
Personally if GW offered a swap service in their retail stores I think this would go a long way to bringing some good will to hobbyists. Not like they wouldn't use the other bases...!
Just a thought

Verdict

This is a very nicely done set! I can imagine that many hobbyists will convert, trim and combine different sets to get the look they want, but it's a brilliant set for Blood Angels Legion fans. Personally I'd love to see if a Blood Drinkers made from this -  but being a Codex Chapter there may need to be a Tactical Box thrown in to tone it down a bit.
Mixing the bits with Forge World Heresy sets would also be possible and would create a really interesting look. Imagine some MKIII or MKIV sets with these shoulder pads and backpacks! 
Very cool.
Blood Angels fans - GO OUT AND BUY THIS.