Sons of the Lion: A Dark Angels tactica primer

Lieutenant Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Posts: 67

Index: Sons of the Lion
Codex: Dark Angels basic tactica guide
Main Author: Grand Master Raziel
2008
Updated: April 2010

Introduction
I know a thing or two about Space Marine armies. I’ve been playing Marines going on six years now, ever since I started playing Warhammer 40K. I love Space Marines, do pretty well with them, and occasionally offer advice on how to build a good SM army. I’ve even written a guide to SM army composition that’s been fairly well received. I can say with some confidence that if there was something I didn’t know about SM armies, it probably wasn’t worth knowing.

Then, in the spring of 2007, along came a new edition of Codex: Dark Angels, written by Jervis Johnson, indicating the beginning of a whole new era for SM armies. A clean break was made from the 3rd and 4th edition precedent, going back to 2nd edition for the bulk of its conceptual material. Some things that could be done with the 3rd/4th edition dexes cannot be done with this book. Likewise, Codex: Dark Angels allows players to do things that can’t be done with previous SM rules. So, here’s my effort at making a comprehensive guide to DA armies, based on what I know and think now, for what it’s worth.

A note on formatting: after underlined unit entries you’ll find a set of parentheses with numbers inside. These numbers are the page numbers for the relevant entries in Codex: Dark Angels for the unit in question, so you can refer to your copy of that book to see the complete rules for the unit being discussed.

A note on the photograpsh: I know what you might say when you see them: "WTF, GMR? These aren't Dark Angels!" No, they're not. I play a DIY DA-successor chapter called the Night Angels. So, when I came up with the idea of providing illustrative photographs, I used what I have on hand. Hope you like them.

Lieutenant Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Posts: 67

Special Characters
Azrael, Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels (46, 79):
Well, it's been a few years since Codex: Dark Angels came out, and Azrael, I'm sad to say, hasn't fared well in comparison to the new Special Characters coming out. There's four measures of a Special Character: killyness, durability, army-buffing, and FOC-alteration. Azrael isn't top-tier in any of these. High second-tier for the first three, maybe, but for what you have to pay for him, he ought to be first-tier, and he doesn't unlock any FOC-alterations at all. I think it's telling that I have yet to use him.

That said, he ought to be a terror to most basic (and most not-so-basic) troops in the game. He can do a lot of damage to squads, and if you can avoid power fists it should be hard to bring him down. Plus, he brings a 4+ invulnerable to any squad he joins and confers Rites of Battle (though any Company Master does that as well). He can be valuable, but he's not as clearly valuable as, say, Pedro Kantor or Vulkan He'stan from Codex: Space Marines, who are both cheaper, and you can make a good case for Vulkan being better.

Belial, Master of the Deathwing (42, 79):
Belial isn’t awesome, but he is satisfactorily adequate. He’s a mostly-unremarkable Space Marine hero in Terminator Armor. His default weapons are the Sword of Silence (a master crafted power weapon) and a storm bolter, but he can be given a pair of lightening claws or a thunder hammer and storm shield in lieu of his default gear. He’s Fearless, and also allows you to take Terminator Squads as Troops choices if you like, plus he has Rites of Battle, which benefits your whole army. So, I suppose he’s worth his points. He’s also considerably less points than Azrael: 95pts less to be exact.

Belial's weapon configurations, from best to worst, are (in my opinion) twin L-claws, Sword of Silence and storm bolter, T-hammer and S-shield. He gets to go at Initiative with either his default gear or the twin L-claws, which makes either of those configurations far superior to the TH-SS armament, because he could get singled out and killed before getting to strike. So, save the hammer-shield combo for regular Termies, who can’t be singled out and cost you far less. My only issue with Belial is that he can’t be given a combi-weapon in lieu of his storm bolter, but that’s a fairly small criticism.

In comparison to a Codex: Space Marines Captain in terminator armor, Belial has a lower Weapon Skill, but is considerably cheaper than a SM Captain with the same gear, Fearless, Rites of Battle, and brings Termies as Troops to the table, so in that respect he compares very favorably. He also unlocks the Deathwing Company Standard, which is certainly the most valuable standard the Dark Angels get. Adding +1 attack to every model in a Command Squad or Bike Squadron is nice, but adding +1 attack to every model in a Deathwing Terminator Squad is sheer dynamite.

Raziel, Master of the Night Angels 1rst Company (Counts as Belial)

Sammael, Master of the Ravenwing (44,79):
Apparently, GW was really excited about the model for Sammael on a jet bike, because brother did JJ write some sexy rules for him. Boosted Toughness, Iron Halo, immunity to Instant Death, the Raven Sword, and even his own personal jet bike with an underslung plasma cannon! All that and Rites of Battle, and allowing Ravenwing Attack Squadrons to be taken as Troops choices! If you don’t like that package, you can elect to field him in his flying Land Raider instead (still getting the Rites of Battle and Ravenwing Troops choices). Emperor’s holy navel lint, is Sammael awesome! He’s pricey, though - only 20pts less than Azrael himself. Also, you should keep in mind that Sammael does not have the Independent Character rule. This means that he can’t join squads, and more importantly he can always be targeted by shooting attacks, regardless of the proximity of friendly units. It kind of helps to think of Sammael as a Monstrous Creature instead of as an Independent Character. He's got a lot of wounds, he can't be insta-killed by high-strength attacks, and he even ignores armor saves in close combat. However, he's not a close combat monster. He's merely okay in close combat, his main virtue being that he's extremely resilient and can't be insta-popped by a power fist. You really don't want to get him bogged down in close combat if you can help it, though. Your best use for him is to keep him between 25 and 36" of your opponent's forces (outside of the range of most infantry weapons but within range of his plasma cannon) and fry things with his plasma cannon. This limits your opponent's ability to respond effectively to him. Generally, I've found that he gets killed by close-range standard infantry fire rather than the usual IC-banes, so keeping him outside of bolter range is best. You only pitch him into combat if things are desperate, or if you're fairly certain his ccntribution will end the combat before your next turn.

A couple years of experience with Sammael haven't changed my opinions all that much. The only things I want to add you'll definately get more mileage out of him if you think of him less as a killy combat character and more as a support unit. Plus, IMO getting Ravenwing Attack Squadrons as Troops choices is definately more valuable than getting Deathwing Terminators. Don't get me wrong, I love the Deathwing Terminators, but Ravenwing Squadrons are much better for jumping on objectives in the endgame.

Raphael, Master of the Night Angels Second Company, on his jetbike (counts as jetbike-Sammael)

Ezekial, Grand Master of Librarians (40, 80):
Apparently, JJ ran out of his supply of IC-sexiness by the time he got to Ezekial. I’m sad to say that Ezekial isn’t a very good special character. His most glaring flaw is the lack of an invulnerable save, which as far as I’m concerned is an intolerable oversight that having articifer armor does not even come near to making up for. His psychic powers are also sub-par (I’ll discuss those below). He does have a master crafted force weapon (which isn't even as good as it used to be with the 5th edition Force Weapon nerf) and a psychic hood, backed up by Ld10 (making it the only psy-hood in the DA dex worth having), plus the Book of Salvation making a bubble of Fearlessness around him, but you pay a significant premium for the privilege of having these items - more than it’s worth, when you consider the fact that you have to have Ezekial run away from anything on the table bearing a power weapon. I’d only use him for one of two reasons: if I were putting together an army list where theme was far more important to me than effectiveness, or if I was willing to sink the points into fielding Azrael as well, so Zeke’s lack of a proper invuln-save could be covered by the Lion Helm. Just to give you an idea how bad Ezekial is, for only 5pts more than Zeke, you can get a Grey Knight Grand Master with a psy-hood and the Hammerhand power, and Codex: Daemonhunters is widely regarded as the most underpowered codex currently in the game.

DA Psychic Powers: (39)
Force Barrier: I suppose Force Barrier is supposed to make up for the lack of an invulnerable save, but it requires a psychic test, and can only save against one wound. If you want to use a different power or his force sword, or if you need to save against more than one armor save-negating wound, you’re out of luck.

Hellfire: Hellfire is okay - it’s a psychic flame template, basically. The main problem with it is that both it’s Strength and AP are random. I could live with the random AP, the random Strength, not so much. Because of the way it gets calculated, there’s a relatively small but significant chance that you could wind up either with a S0 attack, or an attack with a low enough Strength to be almost completely harmless to anything it hits. In my opinion, if you have to take a psychic test for the power, that’s enough risk that it might not work. You shouldn’t also have to take the risk of not rolling a high enough Strength for it to actually hurt anything. Hellfire compares really poorly to the Warlock Destructor power (basically a psychic heavy flamer that doesn’t even require a psychic test) or the CSM Wind of Chaos power (wounding automatically on a 4+ with no armor saves allowed). I will say that Hellfire is probably the best of the DA psychic powers, but that’s definitely damning it with faint praise.

Mind Worm: I have to ask, what was wrong with Weaken Resolve? It was a neat power (from the 3rd ed. mini-dex) that no one considered overpowered. I ask because GW has been having difficulty coming up with a suitable replacement. When the 4th ed. Codex: Space Marines came out, Weaken Resolve got more or less replaced by Fear of the Darkness, which opposing players started complaining about practically the moment that book hit the shelves. So, now Ezekiel (and only Ezekiel) gets Mind Worm, which is like the Eldar Farseer’s Mind War power, but considerably less effective. It counts as firing a heavy weapon, so Zeke can’t move and use it (or assault afterwards), it’s got less range than a storm bolter, and the target just has to pass a Leadership test, so it’s unlikely to work against anything but Guard and Orks. Just another reason not to field Ezekiel.

Generic Independent Characters
Chaplain: (37, 80)
I’m taking things slightly out of order here for convenience sake, because the Chaplain and Interrogator Chaplain are so similar. Getting onto it, the Chaplain is the new DA player’s best starting HQ choice, and you can never go too far wrong by having a Chaplain in your force. He’s got all the gear an IC needs to have (invuln-save, power weapon, grenades, pistol), and his Litanies of Hate ability provides a huge boost to any assault-oriented unit. Plus, making any squad they join Fearless is no small thing, either. He’s even reasonably priced for what you get. There really is no downside to taking a Chaplain. His choice of optional gear isn’t quite as good as the Company Master’s, but it’s good enough - I never saw the sense in replacing the perfectly good Crozius Arcanum anyway. About the only thing you could ask for that he doesn’t have is being able to replace his bolt pistol with a thunder hammer. You also have the option of being able to give him either a bike or a jump pack. The jump pack is a great option if you’re using an Assault Squad (Assault Squads and Chaplains go together like peanut butter and jelly). The bike I’m a little less enthused with, but that’s mostly because the synergy between a Chaplain and a Bike Squadron isn’t as good as the Chaplain+Assault Squad synergy.

Not much to add here, either, only that it's nice to have non-nerfed Chaplains.

Interrogator-Chaplain: (37, 80)
The Interrogator-Chaplain is pretty much the same thing as the Chaplain, except he’s 20pts more expensive, has one more Wound, one higher Leadership, and can be given a suit of Terminator Armor. 20pts is kind of a lot to pay for an extra Wound, so to my way of thinking the only reason to take an Interrogator-Chaplain would be to field him in Terminator Armor with a Terminator Squad. However, that’s not a bad reason for doing so, especially if you’re playing a Deathwing army.

Company Master: (36, 80)
The Company Master is the generic Dark Angels commander. If you want to select exactly what gear your HQ choice carries, the CM is the way to go. Plus, he’s got Ld10, Rites of Battle, and an Iron Halo. His base cost is the same as a Chaplain’s, but you’re unlikely to field him without upgrading his chainsword to at least a power weapon, so expect to pay a little bit more for him than you would for a Chaplain. The upside to the Company Master is that you can give him any of the usual special close combat weapons, and the package you get is exactly the same price and exactly the same profile you’d pay for a Codex: Space Marines Chapter Master with the same gear. That’s pretty good. He’s also apparently a quick-draw artist, because he can take and use as appropriate up to three (or if he upgrades his chainsword to a pair of L-claws, four) weapons: pistol, ccw, and a storm bolter or combi-weapon. For the first time ever, along with dropping the prices of combi-weapons a bit, that makes the combi-weapon a not-retarded choice, which gives the Company Master an added dimension: short-ranged firefighting. Where the Chaplain is the ideal Independent Character to lead an assault-oriented unit, the Company Master is now the ideal IC to lead a squad armed with rapid-fire weapons (we’re basically talking Company Veterans with bolter-type weapons here). Of course, you can just kit him up for a little old fashioned getting stuck in, and he’s fine there, too. You could do far worse than giving him a pair of L-claws and having him join an Assault Squad.

Good as the Company Master is, there are a couple failings to his entry. The first is that he can't be given Eternal Warrior, which is necessary to make a power fist or thunder hammer viable as the primary weapon for an IC. The other failing is that a Company Master can’t be given a bike. I’m supposing the main reason for that is because JJ didn’t see the need, what with Sammael and all. However, it seems to me that the Master of one of the Battle or Reserve companies might occasionally have good tactical reasons to want to take a bike and accompany any Ravenwing elements he happens to have attached to his command. Also, having the bike option would have served the players of successor chapters who might want a Chapter Master to lead their Ravenwing-equivalents without having all of Sammael’s supposedly-unique stuff. Mind you, these aren’t major reservations to have, but it does go to show that the Company Master, while good, could have been just a tad better.

This guy compares to the SM Captain reasonably favorably. The SM Captain has better Weapon Skill, and has that relic blade+storm shield build, but the Company Master has Rites of Battle, so he actually helps your whole army, plus he's got that possible Swiss Army Knife build (paired L-claws, storm bolter, plasma pistol). Having the pair of L-claws is actually better for killing opposing troops than the relic blade, and getting to tote a couple of good guns and have the CC-killyness doesn't suck either.

Librarian: (38, 81)
The Dark Angels Librarian, unfortunately, is the booby prize of the DA HQ choices. He perpetrates the flaws of Ezekiel (bad psychic powers, no invulnerable save) and has a lower Leadership to boot, which means you’re paying for a psychic hood that isn’t going to do you much good (as most opposing psykers are likely to be Ld10). Plus, his base cost is the same as an Interrogator-Chaplains (and so 20pts more than a Chaplain or Company Master). I’d avoid regular on-foot DA Librarians. What I might do with a DA Librarian is field him on a bike or in Terminator Armor. On a bike, he’s got an extra point of Toughness and can at least get an invuln-save against shooting by Turbo Boosting. Also, the enhanced mobility of the bike would maximize the possibility of getting good use out of the Hellfire power. Terminator Armor would let him Deep Strike with a Deathwing squad (again, increasing the possibility of getting good use out of Hellfire), plus it confers an Invulnerable save. The bike riding Librarian is marginally acceptable and the Termie-armored one is reasonably so. I just wish the psy-hood was an optional upgrade instead of something you’re forced to pay for, because on a Ld9 model I’d be inclined to not bother with it if not paying for it was an option.

Command Squad: (25, 81)
The Command Squad is a unit I have a major issue with: it can only be 5-men strong. That makes it very little use as either an assault unit or a close range-firefighting unit - which is too bad, because with the upgrades they have available, they’d be great at either of these functions - if they could take enough additional bodies to support the upgraded guys and prevent you from having to take them as casualties as soon as your opponent focuses any attention on them at all. This failing makes other units in Codex: Dark Angels stand out as better choices for almost any battlefield function you might want. That said, I can think up a few uses for them. The first would be to protect a Devastator Squad. The only upgrade you take is the Apothecary, and you keep the squad within 6” of a Dev Squad (and hopefully out of your opponent’s LOS to boot). That lets the Dev Squad get the benefit of the Apothecary’s Narthecium and Reductor. The second use would be as a Drop Pod suicide unit, outfitted with a pair of plasma guns or meltaguns. They’d be kind of an expensive suicide unit, though - including the cost of the pod, not much less than a base Deathwing Terminator squad. The third use would be to put them in a Rhino with a pair of flamers, meltaguns, or plasma guns and do drive-by shootings with them, popping the top hatch and firing with the squad’s pair of special weapons. If I were going to use them, that’s probably what I would do with them.

With the advent of the new Codex: Tyranids, there's another good reason to take Command Squads - MC hunting. Tyranids have all those Deep Striking monstrous creatures at their disposal now, and what you really want for dealing with something like that is high-mobility plasma. The Command Squad is one of precisely two units that can carry dual plasma guns (the other being Ravenwing Attack Squadrons), and you can put them in a Rhino to have them get to where those pesky Trygons and Malwocs pop up and unload on them. Won't kill them by themselves, but it'll sure help some.

Lieutenant Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Posts: 67

Deathwing Terminator Squad: (28, 82)
When I first read Codex: Dark Angels, the toughest thing for me to take was the Elites section. It seems to me that many things had been needlessly upcosted and nerfed. It's been a couple years since then, and some things have shown themselves to be too expensive, but other things have come to stand out as real can-do units. Deathwing Terminators are one of those units.

Terminator Squad (Counts as Deathwing)

The first thing you notice about DW Termies is that their squad organization is very rigid: you can have five Termies and one heavy weapon, and you can like it, or you can be purged. However, DW Termies regained the ability to have a mix of power fist+gun Termies and L-claw or T-hammer Termies. That’s not so bad. Back in the 3rd ed day, I used to like to run DW squads that were basically Assault Terminator squads with one Termie bearing PF+heavy flamer. DW Termies are Fearless, which is better than a kick in the pants. If you field Belial, you can take Terminators as Troops choices - That's not as good as being able to take Ravenwing Attack Squadrons as Troops, but it's still not bad. Finally, there’s Deathwing Assault, which is also a lot better than a kick in the pants. I've come to regard DW squads as one of the big sticks of Codex: Dark Angels. If you need to make something tough die, a Deathwing Squad can usually kill it.

Regarding squad composition, I'd say you want to go with a near-basic Terminator Squad - take most of your guys with storm bolters and power fists (definately one or two chainfists), and a model with power fist/chainfist+heavy weapon - the assault cannon is still the best choice, in my opinion. The only major swap I'd make would be to replace the standard sergeant with a sergeant armed with a pair of lightening claws. He'd be much more valuable in close combat than the standard sergeant with his power weapon and 2 attacks, and you won't be losing that much firepower. Alternately, you might swap out the sergeant's power weapon for a chainfist - it's an option for us, and at 5pts a relatively cheap one to boot. Definately worth considering. On the other hand, if you're going to have a squad ride around in a Land Raider, I'd do 2-3 with twin L-claws, 1-2 with thunder hammers and storm shields, and one with a chainfist and assault cannon. The reason you take the assault cannon is to give the squad some long-distance sting, in case their Land Raider gets popped early. Alternately, you might slap a cyclone missile launcher on the back of an Assault Termi, which is an option for us.

Dreadnought: (30, 82)
Our Dreadnoughts are looking a little better in comparison to the vanilla variants these days, unless you want a Dread with a multimelta, in which case you're paying an extra 20pts for the privelege of painting it Dark Angels Green. With any of the other gun arm upgrades, our Dreads will cost 10pts more than their vanilla variant. However, vanilla players pay double the cost we do to upgrade the DCCW-underslung storm bolter with a heavy flamer. So, assuming you want a Dread with any gun arm but the multimelta+DCCW with heavy flamer, our Dreads work out to be only 5pts more than their vanilla counterparts. It definately could be worse.

Also, vanilla SM players pay considerably more for their Venerable Dreadnoughts. Admittedly, their Venerable Dreads get higher WS and BS, but I don't think the increased stats are worth the extra points vanilla players pay. So, we can actually have our Venerable Dreads cheaper than vanilla players can get theirs! This has got to be about the only place in Codex: Dark Angels where that happens.

So, it's nice to have Dreadnoughts as a viable choice again. They're good support units, throwing out some firepower on the move, pitching in to help Tac Squads in assault, maybe burning out some units that blunder too close. My only real niggle now is that our Drop Pods are still overpriced, so my favorite application for Dreadnoughts is prohibitively expensive.

Even so, Dreadnoughts offer a lot of utility. They give you some mobile heavy weapons fire, and are reasonably formidable in assault. A single Dreadnought isn't going to dish out a lot of damage, but if you have it charge squads, there's precious little infantry can do to it, unless they're packing a power fist or meltabombs. Also, it'll wreck vehicles like nobody's business, being virtually guaranteed to get Penetrating hits on any vehicle it connects with, short of a Land Raider. Just don't throw your Dreads up against Monstrous Creatures, unless your Dread will go before the MC in question, and the MC is down to its last wound.

Dreadnoughts supported by a Techmarine and his servitors.

Techmarine: (31, 82)
The Techmarine is presented as something you can include in an army list, but you’re better off not thinking of him and his retinue not so much as a fighting unit, but as a support unit that can fight if it has to. The obvious thing to do with a Techmarine and a retinue of servitors is to have him keep your vehicles functioning. Being able to repair Immobilized and Weapon Destroyed results can be quite handy, and each Techmarine can support up to two vehicles at all times, if you position everything properly. SM Techmarines are cheaper and better at the vehicle-fixing role, but not as capable in combat.

Company Veterans: (25, 83)
First, I want to call your attention to the Dark Angels FAQ. The upshot here is that Company Vets may take as many CCW upgrades and/or combi-weapons as there are models in the squad, rather than being limited to 3 such upgrades.

I'm viewing Company Veterans in a slightly different light than I did when they first came out. Initially, I thought they were one of the sexiest units in the book. Lately, though, I hardly use them. I've come to appreciate Deathwing Terminators quite a bit more than when the dex was first released. Also, Company Vets, though still cool, suffer some in comparison to Sternguard Vets.

That said, I think we're still better off with the one entry for Company Vets than vanilla players are with the two entries for Sternguard Vets and Vanguard Vets. The main downside, for us, is that Sternguards overshadow Company Vets at what I thought was the coolest application for Company Vets - short ranged firefighting. Admittedly, Sternies are 5pts more expensive per model than Company Vets, but pay 5pts less for a combi weapon. So, a Company Vet with a combi-weapon costs as much as a similarly equipped Sternie, but doesn't get the Sternie Magic Bullets (aka Special Issue Ammunition). Also, Sternies can take two assault weapons per squad, something I wish Company Vets could do. On the upside, Company Vets can take more close combat weapon upgrades than Sternies, so you can throw them into the thick of things and not have to worry so much about them getting jumped by something nasty, because they'll be better able to fight their own way out. So, they still have considerable value as a Rhino-mounted unit with bolters and such, and can pull double-duty as a reasonably good assault unit as needed.

If you want a power armored assault unit, Company Vets are definately the way to go. With bolt pistol+CCW, they meet my minimum requirement for being considered a serious assault unit, which is throwing 3 attacks per model standing still. They actually wind up being marginally cheaper than Vanguard Vets w/o jump packs, the only difference being you can't take a sergeant with a relic blade - which I frankly don't care about. They also don't take up a Fast Attack slot, which opens up the possibility of making a more assaulty army with Codex: Dark Angels than you could with Codex: Space Marines. Unfortunately, our Assault Squads are criminally more expensive than the vanilla counterparts. Fortunately, Company Vets can be used as a viable alternative to Assault Squads. You don't get jump packs, but you do get a squad with considerably more attacks. 9 Company Veterans and a Rhino will cost you 20pts less than 10 DA Assault Marines, and if you want a Chaplain to accompany them (and why wouldn't you?), you're saving another 20pts by having space for them in the Company Vets' Rhino, as opposed to having to buy him a jump pack to accompany the Assault Squad.

Scouts: (29, 83)
When I first saw that Scouts had been moved into the Elites category, I just about blew a gasket. The rationale for it is that Scouts are rarer than, say, Tactical Squads, Assault Squads, and/or Devestator Squads. The counter-argument is that Scouts, being essentially trainees, shouldn’t be in the Elites category. Regardless of which side of that argument you fall on, the fact remains that for the Dark Angels, Scouts are now an Elite choice, and they’re going to remain that way for a good long while. Since DA players can (conditionally) take Terminators and Bike Squadrons as Troops choices, Scouts being moved to Elites isn’t so bad.

Combat Scouts with pistol-ccw and shotguns, sergeant with a power fist.

The first thing you’ll no doubt notice is that Scouts are the only unit with Infiltrate in Codex: Dark Angels. That makes them reasonably valuable right off the bat. They can also be configured into either a pretty good assault unit or a decent firefighting unit. As an assault unit, with pistol+combat blade (or chainsword) they perform almost as well as an Assault Squad (same offensive capabilities, slightly less staying power). Also, thanks to having Manstopper rounds, giving them shotguns doesn’t suck anymore. Alternately, you can give them bolters and use them for mid-to-short range shooting, or give them sniper rifles for long range shooting. They can take either a heavy bolter or a missile launcher, to give them a little extra long-range sting. The sergeant can take either a power weapon or power fist, which is handy. Finally, they can be delivered via drop pod.

Foreground: Scouts with bolters and heavy bolter. Background: Scouts with sniper rifles and missile launcher.

The utility of Scouts as an assault unit is fairly obvious. Take a big squad, give them pistol+combat blade, use Infiltrate to get them as close as possible, and go to town with them. Alternately, outflanking with them might be quite a bit better, as you're more likely to catch a vulnerable support unit that way. Since they also have Move Through Cover, you can keep them in terrain as long as possible and have them assault into terrain with more confidence than you would with any other unit in the book. Shotguns aren’t a bad choice for them, either. In fact, shotguns are probably the best choice for a drop pod delivered unit, because you get to fire two shots per Scout the turn they land, and then next turn move, do it again, and assault with them. Bolters are a little better for hanging back and shooting, especially if combined with a heavy bolter. Alternately, you might take small squads of Scouts and give them missile launchers, using the Infiltrate to get side shots on your opponent’s armor.

Scouts have myriad uses, but there are a couple of downsides. The first is that they don’t have power armor, which means you have to watch out for things like heavy bolters, which can mow down your Scouts right quick. The other is that, in the Elites category, they’re competing with Deathwing Terminators, Dreadnoughts, and Company Veterans squad. Being up against those units means you really have to think about how you intend to use Scouts if you include them in your army list.

One more thing about Scouts: A Ravenwing+Scouts army might be fun. The whole army except Sammael would be able to outflank!

Lieutenant Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Posts: 67

Tactical Squad: (24, 84)
As with any Space Marine army, Tactical Squads are the beating heart of any good Dark Angels list, with the exception of the hyper-specialized pure Deathwing and pure Ravenwing armies. If there’s something you can’t do with a Tactical Squad, you’d probably have a damn hard time doing it with anything else in Codex: Dark Angels. You could do far, far worse than to simply fill out your Troops choices with Tactical Squads in all your army lists. Other units help, but Tac Squads get it done for you.

Full 10-man Tactical Squad with heavy weapon, special weapon, and power fist for the sergeant

By now, everyone is familiar with 10-man Tac Squads, so I won't go into what used to be. There are two main differences between DA Tac Squads and Codex: Space Marines Tac Squads. The first is that DA Tac Squads can be either 5-strong or 10-strong, but not anywhere in between. The second is that DA Tac Squads can take a special weapon at 5-strong, whereas a SM Tac Squad can only take a special weapon if it's 10-strong.

DA Tactical Squads have the usual options. The sergeant can take a plasma pistol, power weapon, or power fist. At 5-man strength, the squad can have a plasma gun, meltaguns, or flamer. At 10-strong, it can also include a heavy bolter, missile launcher, multi-melta, plasma cannon, or lascannon. It can be given a Rhino, Razorback (at either strength), or Drop Pod.

With these facts in mind, when you’re writing your list and including your Tactical Squads, you have to make two important decisions. The first: do you intend to regularly use the Combat Squads rule or not? The second: do you intend to play a mechanised list or not? These are important questions, because they have huge bearing on what upgrades you should or should not give to the squad.

Assuming you want to field full Tac Squds on foot, your upgrade choices practically get made for you. As far as firepower goes, you want to give the squad upgrades that compliment bolter fire, since you’ll have at least 7 bolters in the squad as well as whatever upgrades you include. The assault weapon choice is easy - the plasma gun. It’s the only assault weapon you can choose with the same range characteristics as a bolter, the only one with greater than a 12” range.

That said, being on foot isn't the best application you can put Tac Squads to. Rhinos are cheap, and increase both the durability and mobility of Tac Squads, and mobility is a game-winning capability. So, you really should be putting your Tac Squads in Rhinos. With that in mind, the meltagun and the flamer stand out as being better than the plasma gun in most cases. Which of those to choose is actually a fairly difficult decision unless you know you're facing a certain type of army. You could do worse than to split the difference, giving half your Tac Squads flamers and the other half meltaguns. Alternately, consider what else you're putting in your army, and choose Tac Squad special weapons that cover deficiencies.

The obvious heavy weapon candidates are the heavy bolter and the plasma cannon, as both are basically anti-infantry weapons. I state this because, if you keep the squad together, you want to try and have it fire on opposing infantry as much as possible, because if you engage a vehicle with an AV any greater than 10, you’re wasting all those bolter shots. Anyhow, of the two heavies I mentioned, I prefer the plasma cannon, as it’s better against heavy infantry, good against Monstrous Creatures, can be used against light and medium vehicles in a pinch, and rips through Swarms like nobody’s business. The missile launcher, though not as good as the plasma cannon for causing carnage with all forms of infantry, is also an acceptable Tac Squad weapon. It can still throw out a template, but is also a competent anti-tank weapon as needed. As for the sergeant, you should give him a power fist, since a 10-man squad has enough bodies in it to reasonably ensure that he’ll get to swing it. Also, you don’t want a full-sized squad getting locked in combat against something it can’t deal with, which could be the case if you don’t have the fist and an opponent assaults it with a Monstrous Creature. I also like to assign Rhinos to my Tac Squads, so I can move them around better when I need to. I like the 10-man Tac Squad. It’s truly tactical in application. You have to think about how you’re going to use it every turn, but it will perform for you.

Now, if you do want to regularly use the Combat Squads rule, that makes the wise upgrade choices quite a bit different. You’re essentially equipping two 5-man demi-squads instead of one 10-man squad, so you have to decide what you want each of the demi-squads to do before you decide what to give them. When you divide a squad into Combat Squads, you get to decide what models go into each squad, but the most conventional and logical configurations are to put the sergeant and the assault weapon in one squad and the heavy weapon in the other squad. So, for convenience sake, I’m going to assume that you’re going to do just that with them, and discuss them appropriately.

For your squad with the sergeant and the assault weapon, you have to decide what kinds of targets you want to send them after when you give them their upgrades. To my way of thinking, you basically have two worthwhile configurations: one for attacking infantry, the other for attacking tanks. The anti-infantry configuration is to give the squad a flamer and give the sergeant a power weapon. The flamer is good for cooking light infantry (and will even kill heavy infantry if you hit enough of them), and the power weapon should at least get to swing once when you assault. A little 5-man squad probably isn’t going to overcome much by itself, but have them support each other (or more dedicated assault units), and you’ll get good performance out of them.

The anti-tank configuration is to give the squad a meltagun and give the sergeant a plasma pistol. That’ll give you two pretty good close-ranged anti-armor shots, and then if that doesn’t do the trick you can always have them charge and try and plant their krak grenades. They’ll do some damage to Monstrous Creatures or heavy infantry if you get them close enough, and against light infantry won’t suck in assault, so you have some secondary uses you can put them to if needs be.

More Combat Squad-friendly Tac Squad configurations

In either case, you want to give the squad a Rhino, not a Razorback! You might be thinking that the Razorback is the more logical choice, because you only need to carry 5 guys and you get an extra heavy weapon. However, the ‘back is more expensive, and more importantly lacks the Rhino’s firing point. With the Rhino, you can have the vehicle move 12”, pop the top hatch, and commit a drive by shooting, which is a lot more useful than having a heavy weapon you can only use if you keep the speed of the vehicle down to infantry walking pace.

As for the demi-squad tasked to unglamorous fire support, you can give them pretty much whatever heavy weapon you might want. Either the heavy bolter or the plasma cannon is still a good choice, but the missile launcher and lascannon also become reasonable selections, as you’re not wasting a whole 10-man squad’s firepower to engage a tank. That said, I still prefer to put my dedicated anti-tank elsewhere (either Fast Attack or Heavy Support, generally), and keep the Tac Squads essentially anti-infantry.

All that said, I'm not a fan of splitting my Tac Squads. A full sized Tac Squad is fairly capable and formidable, but two half-squads are kind of vulnerable. I suppose I could see doing it to have something sitting on a home objective, but I'd much rather have my Tac Squads taking objectives, and they're a lot better able to do that when at full strength.

You can expect our Tac Squads to be 10pts more than their vanilla counterparts, unless the vanilla player is giving his sergeants more upgrades than ours can have.

Deathwing Terminator Squad
Conditional: See entries on Belial (HQs) and the Deathwing Terminator Squad (Elites) for details

Ravenwing Attack Squadron
Conditional: See entries on Sammael (HQs) and the Ravenwing Attack Squadron (Fast Attack) for details

Lieutenant Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Posts: 67

Assault Squad: (25, 84)
The Assault Squad is one of the bread-and-butter staples of any Space Marine army. Practically any army can benefit from it. Even a static gunline army can usually use at least one or two high-mobility assault units to counterattack where the lines get hit or take objectives away from opposing units sitting on them. Dark Angels armies are no exception in this case. Now, there are units that can dish out more pain in close combat, but these units can’t match Assault Squads in terms of mobility, and that mobility is what makes Assault Squads such a reliable performer - you can get them where you need them more easily than with practically any other unit in the codex. Not only can they inherently move faster than any Infantry unit, but they can also vault over terrain instead of having to go around it or pick through it. That, combined with their pistol-chainsword armament giving them more attacks than bolter-armed Marines makes them a good unit to pitch into the fray when things get sticky. Just know what you can and can't reasonably expect them to defeat.

The Dark Angels Assault Squad doesn’t have a lot of unit options, which makes deciding what to give them easy. The sergeant gets a power fist, and a couple squaddies get plasma pistols (points allowing), and 10 Marines are better than 5 Marines. At 15pts a pop no matter who’s carrying them, Assault Squads are the only unit in the whole book that I advocate regularly giving plasma pistols to, and the only reason I do so here is so that the squad is not entirely reduced to being strictly a power fist delivery system. If you lose a squaddie to a plasma pistol overheat, you care a lot less than if you lose an Interrogator Chaplain or a Company Veteran. Also, if you’re of a mind to do so, you can have the squad doff their jump packs and ride in a Rhino or a drop pod. I don’t know why you’d do so, but it is an option.

Then, there’s the question of whether or not to use the Combat Squads rule to divide up into demi-squads. That’ll depend on who or what you’re squaring off against. If you’re against a gunline army that can reasonably be expected to fall easily before Space Marines in assault (such as IG or Tau), then it’s a good idea to do so. On the other hand, if you’re up against an army that can be expected to be pretty tough in close combat (such as Chaos, Tyranids, or Orks), you’re probably better off keeping the squad as one big unit.

If you're going to use one or more Assault Squads, I’d like to point out that an Assault Squad led by a Chaplain or Interrogator Chaplain is like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup - two great tastes that go great together.

That said, with the release of more recent books, our Assault Squads have emerged as being almost-criminally overpriced. One of our 10-man Assault Squads costs a full 40pts more than their identically-equipped vanilla counterpart. 40 points! Plus, the vanilla squad can take flamers instead of plasma pistols. The flamers are 5pts cheaper than the plasma pistol, so vanilla Assault Squads will frequently wind up being a full 50pts cheaper than ours! This being the case, I really feel I have to recommend on alternatives to the Dark Angels Assault Squad. If you want a rapid reaction unit, use a Ravenwing Attack Squadron. If you want a power armored assault unit, use Company Veterans, as I detailed in the entry for that unit.

Ravenwing Attack Squadron: (26, 85)
Bike Squadrons have to be one of the toughest units in any SM army to use well. Usually over twice as expensive per trooper as Tactical Marines but just as prone to dying to the types of weapons opponents bring to bear, small squad size, and sort of a compromise between being a dedicated assault unit and a dedicated fire support unit. That said, bikes have a lot of inherent strengths, and Ravenwing Attack Squadrons bring some extra win to the table with them. As a unit, I think they've aged well, even in the face of more recent SM releases.

Why are Ravenwing Attack Squadrons so cool? We can start with the general strengths of bikes: high mobility, increased toughness, decent firepower. Mobility is a key factor to winning games, and very little is more mobile than a bike squadron. You can use that mobility to rapidly put the squadron where you need it, as appropriate depending on what they're carrying. Alternately, you can send them sweeping up a weak flank to engage small, high-value units and make last-turn dashes to contest objectives. Bikes can also be surprisingly difficult to destroy, too. Sure, they go down to the usual banes of Space Marines, but the metagame has moved away from plasma spam. Most basic infantry needs to roll 5's to wound a biker Marine, and some need to roll 6's! As for firepower, each model will have at least a twin-linked bolter, and you'll probably see most Bike Squadrons toting the two special weapons they're entitled to take. A Bike Squadron with a pair of flamers is a significant threat to any infantry, or if they have a pair of meltaguns they can really mess up armor.

In addition to that, Ravenwing have their special rules: Fearless, Scouts, and Teleport Homers. Fearless is often regarded as a disadvantage vs ATSKNF, but it does ensure that they'll stay on the table to the last man. Scouts has obvious applications: the Scout move or outflanking. Having the squadron move before the game starts can set up first-turn charges, or let you deploy deceptively, or chase down pesky Infiltrators (or get away from them, as appropriate). Outflanking doesn't suck, either, and is often the better option. With the ability to move 24" in a single turn, you can usually get the squadron where you want it, even if you don't get the table edge you want. Teleport homers give the squadron good synergy with DWT squads (or with Grey Knight Teleport Attack Squads, or GKTs, just saying).

There's also the independent Attack Bike. A vanilla SM Bike Squadron buys an Attack Bike which operates as part of the squadron. Ravenwing Attack Squadrons buy Attack Bikes that operate independently from the rest of the squadron. That gives you a cheap, high-mobility gun platform (take the multimelta, the HB AB isn't nearly as valuable) that you can have engage seperate targets from the rest of the squadron, and in the endgame they can zoom in and contest objectives - or, if you're using Sammael, they can claim objectives! Having independent scoring Attack Bikes is one of the biggest advantages a Dark Angels player can have - possibly the biggest.

For all that Ravenwing Attack Squadrons are made of sex appeal, there is one significant downside to them: cost. A full squadron with 6 Bikes, Attack Bike, and Speeder costs just a little under 400pts, and that’s with absolutely no upgrades whatsoever. The Speeder especially drives the cost up. So, unless you’re fielding Sammael, I don’t see anyone fielding more than one Ravenwing Attack Squadron in their army. That means that if you use one, you have to use it carefully. Going straight up the middle is just a good way of losing your squadron to no good effect. You have to look for where your opponent’s force is weak and go there, using terrain to keep the squadron out of sight as much as possible, and absolutely avoiding getting them stuck in an assault unless you’re pretty sure they can wipe out their opponent without getting tarpitted. The last thing you want is for your expensive Ravenwing Squadron to wind up in a contest of attrition, because that’s going to hurt no matter what. Also, like our Assault Squads, Ravenwing Attack Squadrons are significantly more expensive than their vanilla counterparts - in the vicinity of 50-60pts more expensive. However, unlike with our Assault Squads, we're at least getting something for those points, so here I don't mind as much.

Conditionally (if you field Sammael), you can field Ravenwing Attack Squadrons as Troops choices. Ravenwing Squadrons as Troop choices are more valuable by far than DWT squads as Troops, because the RW Squadrons are so much faster, and you can get that scoring Attack Bike. Ravenwing Attack Squadrons have remained star performers for us.

Ravenwing Support Squadron: (26, 85)
A Land Speeder Squadron by another name. Land Speeders are always valuable as high-mobility gun platforms. As such, you shouldn't be afraid to use Ravenwing Support Squadrons. You will find that our Speeders are a little more expensive than vanilla Speeders, and we can't take as many upgrades in our squadrons. Also, our Typhoon didn't get the change in rules the vanilla variant did, turning it from a liability to a serious contender for best variant. These are just a few of those small niggles we have to put up with until our codex gets redone. Ravenwing Support Squadrons are still valuable units. Usually, what you'll see players doing is fielding them as squadrons of 1, so each Speeder can have Tornado upgrades. The upside to this is being able to engage multiple targets. The downside is each Speeder giving up a KP in Annihilation missions. If you want to field squadrons in order to give up less KPs, your best bet is to simply use them for high-speed multimelta-spamming, maybe giving one a heavy flamer in case burning out infantry becomes more important than killing tanks. Avoid the assault cannon variant and the Typhoon. A speeder with an assault cannon is crazily overpriced - you can actually buy a dakka Pred for less points. Our Typhoon is just useless, points thrown away in a list where virtually everything is already at least a little overpriced.

Land Speeder Squadron flying nap-of-the-earth over a crater

So, ideal speeder squadron use has changed little from 3rd ed - multiple speeders armed with multimeltas for tank-busting, or single Tornado equivalents. Having cut my teeth in 3rd ed, I’m actually fairly comfortable with this. I’ve always felt that tank busting with multimeltas was the best use you could put speeders to anyway, I just liked to have the option of slapping a heavy flamer on my melta-armed speeders so they’d have a respectable anti-infantry weapon in case my opponent wasn’t fielding any tanks, or in case they somehow survived destroying all the enemy vehicles on the table.

Lieutenant Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Posts: 67

Devastator Squad: (25, 86)
Devastator Squads used to be a staple of practically every Space Marine army. These days, you don't tend to see them as much. The reason for this is probably that players are moving away from static units, and Dev Squads do tend to be static. That said, they remain one of the best fire support units a Space Marine player can pick. If you want a Heavy Support choice that's likely to stay shooting all game, Devastators are for you.

Dark Angels Devastator Squads are not really that much different from Codex: Space Marines Devastator Squads. The main differences are how you buy the squads and price. DA Devs are bought at either 5 strong or 10 strong, whereas vanilla Devs are 5 to 10. Also, the DA Dev Squad is actually a bit cheaper, at least when brought up to 10. However, there's a key price difference in the weapon options, which I'll explain later. Both squads have the same heavy weapons options, for largely the same prices. However, the DA Dev Squad pays an extra 5pts per missile launcher. This is significant because the best all-around choice for Devs is to take 4 missile launchers. The upshot of this is that DA Devs will tend to be 15pts more than vanilla Devs, unless you go for the other weapon options.

Dev Squad with 4 missile launchers takes up a firing position in a damaged building

Wise squad composition is a bit different for the DA squad than it is for the SM squad. Mixing heavy weapon types in the squad is generally a bad idea. The various heavies do not have very good synergy with each other. Lascannons are best against vehicles and monstrous creatures, plasma cannons best against heavy infantry, heavy bolters best against light infantry, and missile launchers are the best all-around choice. It’s still a good idea to choose one heavy weapon, and put four of them in a single Dev squad. That said, the Combat Squads rule does make it possible to take two different types of heavy weapon in a single Dev squad and have it not be a bad idea, as long as you take a full 10-man squad and divide it up into demi-squads at deployment, with one type of heavy in one demi, and the other in the other.

So, what, you ask, should you put in your Dev Squad? I’m a long-time advocate of using 4 missile launchers. That is the single best all-around choice you can make. With krak missiles, they can bust tanks and put down 3+ save infantry, and with frag missiles they can take out swaths of light infantry. The only things they’re not terribly good against are AV14 vehicles and 2+ save infantry. You also can’t go too far wrong with 4 heavy bolters. I don’t care what army you’re playing against, any opponent is going to cringe inwardly when you direct that kind of firepower onto one of his squads. It’s expensive, but on the other hand nothing says “This four-foot radius is mine!” like a Dev Squad with 4 lascannons. I haven’t personally used a Dev Squad with 4 plasma cannons, but can well imagine the carnage you could inflict with one. As for multimeltas…some people swear by them, and GW keeps lowering the price of them in squads, but infantry multimeltas are just a bad idea. You have to get them to within 12” of a target in order to get maximum use out of them, and then (with infantry) remain stationary so you can fire them. I don’t care how cheap GW makes them, they could be 5pts each and still not be worth it. They need a high-mobility platform that can move and fire heavy weapons in the same turn in order to be made useful. Fortunately, SM armies have two such platforms: Land Speeders and Attack Bikes. Take multimeltas on those, and let your Dev Squads have weapons that will be more useful to them.

Dev Squad with 4 lascannons divided up into two demi-squads with 2 lascannons each

The question of how big the squad should be is fairly simple, since there are only two choices: 5 or 10 men. Either way, you can take the full compliment of four heavy weapons, so you’re basically making a choice between either keeping the cost down or maximizing the durability. If your object is to stuff as many big guns into the army as possible, you’ll probably take the 5-man squad, which is still more durable than any of the vehicle-based Heavy Support options. The only trouble with the 5-man squad is that the only casualty you can take before losing heavies is the sergeant. The 10-mans squad is more expensive, but gives you 5 expendable troopers before you take casualties on the sergeant or heavy weapons. I’ve done both in my time, and while the 5-man squad has its virtues, I’ve found that a 10-man Dev Squad makes a superlative fire magnet, especially if you put it in good cover. Lately, I’ve also had a tendency to give power fists to my Dev Squads sergeants. That may seem bass-ackward, but the addition of the p-fist makes the squad capable of taking care of itself if an opponent assaults it. If the Dev Squad can fight off an attacker by itself (10 Marines with a fist stand a reasonable chance of doing so), then that frees up a unit that I’d otherwise have to use to counterassault with. Also, occasionally it's more important to assault with 10 Space Marines and a power fist than to shoot, even with 4 heavy weapons.

Land Raider: (34, 86)
5th edition's vehicle rules have given SM players incentive to take Land Raiders off the shelf and start using them in games. As such, LRs have moved from being ridiculously expensive liabilities to potentially very valuable assets. Generally speaking, most players are going to use Land Raiders as assault transports. Usually, they'll be carrying a pretty significant assault unit - in our case, we're talking about DWT squads or combat-oriented Company Veterans. Some of the points you're paying are for that transport capacity, and it's kind of tough to bring all of a LR's guns to bear on a single target, so players will tend to use it.

The Land Raider is also (finally!) a pretty tough nut to crack. You can reasonably expect it to deliver its payload and maybe get in a little shooting before it gets taken down. That said, I'm still a little leery of using them. With their role as an assault transport, you'll be driving them right into melta range, and melta spam is fairly common these days. Also, there's lance weapons to consider, denying you the full benefit of the LR's armor should it be hit by one. Lances have crept out of the Eldar books to Tyranid Zoanthropes, too, so you're more likely to see them than you were before. So, in one sense, using a Land Raider hasn't changed from previous editions, in that if you want it to succeed in doing anything useful, it can't be the only armored threat in your list. You have to field a whole bunch of armored units to force your opponent to spread out his antitank firepower.

One nice thing about our Land Raiders is that they're not more expensive than their vanilla counterparts. Our Power of the Machine Spirit rule is different - not really better or worse, IMO, just different. The vanilla version makes their LR a better gun platform, but our version keeps it moving if it suffers a Stunned result, making it better at delivering its payload. We do have slightly lower carrying capacity in our LRs, though.

Land Raider Crusader: (35, 86)
The Crusader is the younger, sexier brother of the Land Raider. It shares with the conventional LR the problem of being a big, fat, expensive target. However, there isn’t as much conflict between its transport and gun tank roles, as all its weapons have only a 24” maximum range and an ideal range envelope of 12” or less. That means you can have it motor towards the enemy at full speed without feeling like you’re wasting firepower. Also, it’s got a better weapon loadout for the current rules, being able to move at half-speed and fire all its weapons to full effect. It’s also got a larger carrying capacity than a standard LR, making it the transport of choice for Belial and any Terminator Squad you might want him to join (or any Termie Squad accompanied by an IC). You can even include a Librarian or Interrogator-Chaplain in Terminator Armor, and have room left over. If you only have money for one Land Raider, buy a Crusader first.

Our Crusaders again have slightly lower carrying capacity than their vanilla counterparts, but in our case this matters not at all (or, at the very least, you have to try very hard to make it matter). Also, for once we get a discount over the vanilla counterpart! Our LRCs cost the same, but ours comes with a multimelta as part of its base price. Vanilla players have to buy the multimelta as an upgrade.

Armored spearhead! Two Predators supported by a Land Raider. (note: the Predators' sponson weapons are held in place by magnets so they can be swapped out at will)

Predator: (32, 86)
The Predator is the second-best fire support option in Codex: Dark Angels. What it’s got going for it is that it provides decent mobile firepower with good enough frontal armor to make it pretty much impossible to crack from the front without dedicated anti-tank firepower, and it stands a respectable chance of deflecting even good anti-tank guns. It’s also fairly cheap. You can get a Predator with an autocannon and a pair of heavy bolters for less than 100pts. I won’t lie, that’s pretty awesome.

You can field a Predator without sponsors if you wish, but virtually nobody does that. Not counting the pintle mounted storm bolter and HK-missile upgrades, there are four possible configurations: the classic dakka Pred, which sports an autocannon in the turret and heavy bolter sponsons; twin-linked lascannon turret and HB sponsons; autocannon turret and lascannon sponsons, and lascannons all around.

Of the possible configurations, the dakka Pred autocannon-HB armament has the virtue of being the least expensive, while still being respectable firepower. It’s a threat to infantry and light vehicles. The lascannon+HBs armament has the volume-of-fire virtue of the dakka Pred while also being able to threaten any vehicle in the game, plus pitching in against Monstrous Creatures. Autocannon+LCs armament has emerged in 5th edition as a popular configuration, being a good anti-vehicle platform without being too expensive. The triple lascannon armament you don’t see as much, because it's the most expensive variant, but it does have the virtue of being the cheapest platform we have for massed lascannons.

Bear in mind that Preds (any variant) are not as durable as Devastator Squads, but they do have one significant advantage over them - mobility. They can actually move and fire (albiet usually only one weapon), and they can move up to 12" in a turn if needed. So, if you need to reposition your fire support, Preds can do it faster than Devs, which is often tactically significant.

All that said, remember that a Predator, no matter how armed, is a support vehicle. It’s unlikely to kill enough by itself to justify the points you spent on it, unless you get lucky. It’s purpose is to support your squads of Space Marines, and it can do that without firing a shot, as long as your opponent is shooting at it instead of at your squads. I tend to like to use them in mechanized lists, because opponents tend to level their anti-tank firepower at gun tanks before transports, giving the transports a much better chance of putting their embarked squads where I want them.

Some of our Pred configurations are a little more expensive than their vanilla counterparts. Both variants with autocannons in the turret are 10pts more than their vanilla counterparts. The variants with TLLC turrets, on the other hand, are the same price.

Whirlwind: (33, 87)
The Whirlwind has the distinct advantage of being the cheapest Heavy Support option in Codex: Dark Angels, costing less points than even a 5-man Dev squad with no upgrades whatsoever. It’s also the only thing in the DA inventory that can fire on things it can’t draw line of sight to, which means (terrain permitting) you can keep it hidden and have it safely fire away all game, unless your opponent goes out of his way to silence it. It also uses that nice big ordnance template, which is always fun to slap down on opposing squads. You also have the option of using a slightly weaker ordnance blast that ignores cover saves - handy for winkling units out of terrain, especially those units that have enhanced cover saves.

There is one significant downside to the Whirlwind: it’s only particularly useful against about half the armies in the game - basically the alien armies, plus Imperial Guard. Its missiles will mess up units with less than a 3+ save, but infantry with 3+ saves or better don’t really have to worry about it too much, unless you can catch them really bunched up. In order to make the Whirly pay off against SM-equivalent armies, you have to select your targets with some care. It’s also mediocre against vehicles. Finally, you should be aware that it can’t target anything closer than 12” to its hull - not a huge consideration, but something to keep in mind.

Our Whirlwinds cost the same as their vanilla counterparts, but vanilla Whirlwinds have a big advantage: they can choose which missile they want to fire on a turn-by-turn basis, whereas ours have to make a decision before the first turn and stick with it the whole game.

Space Marine artillery - Foreground: Vindicator, background: Whirlwind

Vindicator: (33, 87)
Vehicular fire magnet par excellance! The Vindicator is the vehicle you field if you really, really want to make sure your opponent doesn’t shoot at something else. It mounts the demolisher cannon, which is the most powerful ordnance weapon in the game (not counting the Inquisitorial Orbital Bombardment), and has decent front armor. That’ll make sure your opponent directs enough firepower onto it to make sure it’s at least Shaken every turn, which will require genuine anti-tank weapons.

What’s that? You want to actually fire the demolisher cannon? Well, that’s a little trickier. It’s got a short range, and the Vindy has weak side armor. The demolisher cannon is well named, which means your opponent is not going to want to let you fire that thing at any of his units. You can generally get off at least one shot by keeping it hidden until your first turn, then having it roll out 6” and pop off a shot (assuming something is in range), but if you want to fire on subsequent turns, or need to get it closer before firing, then you need to be a little clever and a little lucky. It helps a lot to make sure your opponent has to shoot at the front of your Vindy, which you can do by flanking it with Rhinos. Also, if ever there was anything worth supporting with a Techmarine, it’s the Vindicator.

One thing I don't like about the Vindicator: your opponent doesn't have to destroy it to neutralize it. One Weapon Destroyed result pretty much neuters the thing as a fire support vehicle, reducing you to using it as rolling terrain and/or using it to Tank Shock and Ram. Again, a Techmarine will help with this.

Our Vindicators are 10pts more than their vanilla counterparts.

Lieutenant Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Posts: 67

Dedicated Transport Vehicles
Rhino: (32, 87)
The Rhino is the Dark Angels’ basic vehicular transport. Every power armored squad in the army can take a Rhino transport. The obvious function of the Rhino is to give your squads more mobility. That’s pretty important, because mobility is at least as important as firepower. Some weapons (such as meltaguns and flamers) become a lot more powerful with that added mobility. However, the usefulness of the Rhino doesn’t stop there. The Rhino is a cheap enough vehicle to be expendable, which opens up all kinds of tactical uses - mobile terrain, do-it-yourself cover, making opposing units bunch up, and so on.

The thing about the Rhino is that, if you only have one or two of them in your army, and they’re not supported by any other vehicles, they’re not likely to accomplish much for you, because they’ll become the focal point of all your opponent’s anti-tank firepower. I think a lot of new players experiment with one or two Rhinos early, and come away thinking that they’re worthless because they get destroyed so quickly. They work much better if you use four or more, and support them with Predators, Vindicators, or Dreadnoughts. Then, you tend to wind up with a heavily mechanized list, which is easy to overdo and wind up with insufficient strength in Space Marines. It’s one of those things that makes it challenging to write a good army list.

Among its other qualities, the Rhino has 3 access points and a top-mounted firing point. The multitude of access points gives you a a lot of tactical options when it comes to disembarking - way better than having to expose the vehicle's @ss to fire, as is the case with a lot of other armies' transports! Also, you can debuss squads while positioning your Rhinos to screen units coming up behind them. The top hatch lets you have up to 2 models shoot out of the Rhino, which is often handy to do. Instead of exposing the whole squad to fire or getting locked in assault, you can have the heavy weapon shoot out, or drive it 6" and have the special weapon and a bolter-toting companion fire out. Handy for engaging units that would tarpit your squads. They might still assault the Rhino, but if they don't wreck or Immobilize it, it can drive away.

In lead: MkVIa Razorback with twin-linked heavy bolter and pintle storm bolter
Guarding left flank: MkIV Razorback with twin-linked lascannons (FW Razorback turret)
Middle of formation: MarkIIIb Rhino
Rear of formation: Mark IIc Rhino

Razorback: (32, 87)
The Razorback, on the other hand, is largely a liability. It’s a transport with reduced transport capacity. It mounts a heavy weapon turret, which makes it an inviting target, but isn’t significantly more difficult to destroy than a Rhino. Also, it can only be moved 6” a turn if you want to use the heavy weapon, which is no faster than the embarked squad could move on foot. It’s more expensive than a Rhino, so it ties up more of your points. Finally, you sacrifice the firing point to get the heavy weapon turret. That’s the deal-breaker for me. With a Rhino, you can move at combat speed, pop the top hatch, and let loose with a couple of the embarked squad’s weapons, which is a lot more useful than having to rely on the Razorback's weapons. So, it fails at being a transport (Rhinos being far superior), but it’s also marginal as a gun platform, squads of infantry being more durable and dedicated tanks such as Predators and Vindicators having better firepower and better armor (at least in front).

All that said, Razorbacks do have a few uses. You can use them as pocket tanks in low-points games, where the threat of good anti-tank weapons isn’t as prominent. Also, you can assign a Razorback to a full 10-man squad, which does have the benefit of giving you an additional heavy weapon, on a mobile platform that can shoot at a different target than the squad. I think it’s probably better to have a Razorback with a twin-linked lascannon than to give an infantry lascannon to a Tactical Squad. Finally, if you’re going to assign a transport to a Techmarine and a retinue of servitors, it might as well be a Razorback, since you won’t need to transport more than 5 figures.

Also, our Razorbacks are more expensive than their vanilla counterparts - 10pts more for the basic TLHB version, 5pts more for the TLLC version. Vanilla Razorbacks also have a lot of turret options we just don't get.

Drop Pod: (35, 87)
The Drop Pod is an option that allows any infantry unit in Codex: Dark Angels (except bikes) to use the Deep Strike rules, regardless of whether or not the mission in question allows Deep Strike. Dreadnoughts can also be delivered via Drop Pod in this fashion. That’s pretty nifty all by itself, but it also reduces the risk by preventing the consequences of a bad scatter roll. The only way you can lose a unit being delivered via Drop Pod is if it scatters off the table entirely. Also, Drop Pods have the advantage of blocking LOS, so you can use them to isolate and cut off portions of your opponent’s army.

It’s quite possible to deliver a whole army via Drop Pod, which confers a pretty significant tactical advantage to those that know how to use it. I haven’t much used Drop Pods in that fashion. What I have frequently used Drop Pods for is to deliver suicide units: basically units that you either send after particular high-value targets, or units that you use to simply disrupt your opponent’s formations and plans. Such units don’t always (or even often) make their points back by directly killing their points-worth of opposing forces, but they do often discombobulate an opponent enough to make it possible to cut up his army with the rest of your force.

Unfortuately, like so much in our dex, our Drop Pods are overpriced, to the tune of 15pts per pod. I think that's why you don't seen too many Dark Angels drop pod armies.

Vehicle Upgrades (55)
In Codex: Dark Angels, vehicles basically come with what they come with. There are only 4 things that can be added to them, which are as follows:

Dozer Blade: Never used one.
Hunter-Killer Missile: Too expensive for what it does.
Extra Armor: Basically too expensive for what it does now. The price for this upgrade rapidly adds up to the point where not taking it lets you take an additional unit of some sort.
Pintle-Mounted Storm Bolter: Cheap enough to be worth putting on Rhinos, Predators, etc. if you have them in your army and you have a few extra points to spend.

Lieutenant Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Posts: 67

Ordinarily, I wouldn't post several times in a row like that, but there's no way all that text would fit in one post. Plus, I figured for something like this, you guys wouldn't mind.

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:17 am

Yeah, this is great. Thanks! Very Happy

Lieutenant Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Posts: 67

Updated!

Grand Master Joined: Oct 15, 2007 Posts: 1591 Location: MA

Deleted my post up above so your whole tactica runs uninterrupted.

Incredible effort put into that! If I'd seen this two weeks later and my finals were done it woulda inspired me to make a tactica on the new 'nid dex.

Lieutenant Joined: Nov 12, 2007 Posts: 67

Come back and look at it in two weeks, then! Wink