Codex: Heretic Militarum - Blood Pact

[BrotherLoki]

I'm a huge fan of Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts novels, and in particular their signature enemy the Blood Pact.  I've been wanting to do a Blood Pact army for years, and over time I've planned any number of conversions and projects, but lack of money and general hobby butterfly syndrome have got in the way. I've planned lists using the Imperial Guard codex, and the Forgeworld Renegades and Heretics but never been entirely satisfied, so I decided to write my own Blood Pact Codex.

This is a 54 page document providing all the datasheets and additional rules you would expect to find in a codex from GW, such as warlord traits, stratagems, artifacts and even a new blood-powered psychic discipline - Haematurgy.

Many units and rules are adapted from existing GW rules, with some of my own designs based on descriptions from Abnett's books. I have not yet done any playtesting, but I would welcome any comments and criticisms, especially feedback on points values etc.

Cheers
Pete

 

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/files/file/641-codex-blood-pact-8th-edition-v1pdf/

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Not bad, though I'm disappointed Chaos Space Marines (specifically Khorne Berserkers, as seen in Traitor General) and Wirewolves (Daemon Engine counterparts to the Bloodwolf seen in the Blood Pact novel) aren't included among the units.

There's a typo on Page 46. In the sentence "The Warlord is one of the rare few blood sorcerers to rise to a position of authority in the Blood Pacton the strength of their martial prowess," you neglected to include a space between the words "Pact" and "on".

Edited April 13, 2019 by Bjorn Firewalker

[BrotherLoki]

Thanks for the feedback.  I specifically left out the units that you mentioned as they were associated with the Sons of Sek on Gereon, rather than with the Blood Pact per se. Same with excubitors - the rear-echelon occupation troopers armed with las-locks. Having said that there's a good argument that the Blood Pact would include similar units as well, as at that time in their development Sek was apparently serving Gaur while he built the Sons in secret, so I guess alll the Gereon forces were nominally members of the Blood Pact. I may add them in to the next version, and possibly re-work it to cover the Sons of Sek more generally, Anarch and all.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

As the Blood Pact novel directly compares Bloodwolves to Wirewolves- specifically noting how time-consuming it is to build a Wirewolf, though the resulting product's durability far outstrips the minutes a Bloodwolf is expected to last- I thought the Blood Pact has the ability to use the Daemon Engines, though the Wirewolves of the Sons of Sek may include refinements the Anarch withheld from his master.

[Exilyth]

Was only able to give it a quick (virtual) flipthrough so far, but it's looking nice. Some interesting unit choices and special rules. Seems to more faithfully translate the fluff to the current edition rules than other fan-dexes.

 

Will give it a more thorough reading when I've got the time.

 

Only thing I didn't like was the "used without permission" on the artwork - getting permissions or replacements would be the right thing to do imho.