Start with what Games Workshop actually released
A points update has an awkward habit of arriving just when your tournament army feels settled. The temptation is to preserve the impressive part of the roster and cut whatever makes the total fit. For Blood Angels, that can leave you with a formidable assault unit and rather fewer answers to the rest of the game.
Games Workshop’s official Emboldened Astartes balance announcement is dated 30 September 2026 and includes Blood Angels among the affected factions. It describes changes to movement, Toughness and weapons across the relevant Marine armies, with points increases accompanying some improvements. As checked on 13 October, the official downloads index still dates its Munitorum Field Manual update to 30 September. This article examines that confirmed update; it does not report a new official Blood Angels points release from 12 October.
The useful tournament question is what your revised army can still do. Reprice the actual roster using the official material your event accepts, then look beyond the total. Which units score while your main threat waits? Who trades first? What remains after the first serious exchange? Those answers should guide the cuts.
Price the whole assault package
Dante, Mephiston, Sanguinary Guard and Death Company are obvious places to begin a Blood Angels review. Start with the units you actually use and check their current costs and rules individually. A familiar character’s name does not tell you whether the complete package still earns its place in this particular army.
For a character attached to a unit, count the bodyguard, paid options and enhancement alongside the leader. Then describe the package’s job in one sentence. It might threaten an objective, punish an opponent moving into your half or remove a target that the supporting units cannot handle. If the job is vague, buying more models into it will rarely make the decision clearer.
Compare that job with what you would lose elsewhere to retain the package. Removing a support unit might preserve your preferred damage output, but leave the expensive unit covering a quiet objective instead of threatening the fight you bought it for. The cost of that cut appears on the table, even when the roster looks tidier.
Protect the units that let your threats fight
A tournament list needs models doing useful work while the impressive models are elsewhere. Before dropping a small squad, decide whether it is your home holder, an early trading option, a screen or a unit that can reach a side objective. You may have another answer for that job. You need to identify it before submitting the army.
An Assault Intercessor squad holding a quieter part of the board can release a stronger unit to contest the important fight. A mobile supporting unit can make your opponent cover more than one route. These are choices to test against your actual mission and terrain, rather than reasons to keep every cheap unit regardless of performance.
If a revised roster is over the limit, remove the least useful overlap first. Two units may be competing for the same staging position or waiting for the same favourable target. Compare that redundancy with a supporting unit whose loss forces the rest of the army to change jobs. Keeping a scoring role intact can be worth more than keeping every favourite upgrade.
Extra durability still needs a plan
The official announcement connects increased Toughness on many Marine units with higher points costs. For the units affected, that changes what you are paying for. It gives you a reason to reassess exchanges; it does not establish that every unit in your Blood Angels army received the same improvement.
In practice, check the profile of the unit you intend to expose and the weapons you expect to face. A tougher unit might hold a position more reliably, but terrain, incoming damage and the opponent’s available reply still matter. Measure the move, inspect the lanes and decide what the exposure is meant to achieve.
I would be particularly careful with a first attack that uses every meaningful threat at once. If the opponent removes the unit that went in, what contests that part of the board next? A supporting threat staged for the following exchange can keep the army working after the opening attack. Give that reply space in the roster and a realistic route on the table.
Check the event’s version before locking the roster
The most recent official publication and the version used by your next event may have different effective dates. Read the organiser’s rules cutoff, list deadline and event pack before making a last-minute change. If an update falls near the deadline, get a clear ruling on which version the event uses.
Check unit sizes, weapon selections, permitted attachments and your chosen detachment alongside the points total. A roster export is useful for spotting a discrepancy, but the relevant official rules and the event’s stated version are what you need to reconcile it. Where a displayed total is unexpected, inspect the entry before deciding that a new balance change has happened.
Save the checked roster with the documents and version you used. Then prepare it for the event’s mission and layouts. Name the unit that scores early, the unit that takes the first exchange and the threat that follows it. A legal list becomes a tournament plan when those responsibilities fit together.
Make the next practice game answer a question
Take the revised army into a practice game with one decision you want to settle. Perhaps you kept the larger assault package and reduced its support. Test whether it can reach the useful fight without leaving a scoring gap behind it. Perhaps you kept the support and trimmed an upgrade. Test whether the main unit still performs the job you need.
Play out an opening where the opponent offers very little. Can the army score while the assault units wait in sensible positions? Then consider an opponent who presses forward. Which unit answers first, and what remains available if that exchange goes badly? Those two situations often reveal more about a revised roster than an ideal charge into the target you hoped to see.
The aim is to arrive with an army whose jobs remain clear after the update. Keep the pieces that make those jobs possible, judge expensive units as complete packages and use the event’s accepted official rules. Blood Angels pressure is useful when the rest of the list gives it a purpose throughout the game.