I'm off work this week, due to my boss (the Sergeant at Auto Theft) being required to attend a conference. Now, I say that like he's doing it against his will, but really I think he's pretty happy to be spending a week in Colorado with his wife and no kids. He told me he'd almost gotten to go to the International Auto Theft Conference, in Australia, last year, but it didn't quite pan out. I guess if you have to sit through a seminar on the differences between the passenger-side door locks of a 2003 Honda Accord versus those of a 2004 Honda Accord, you might as well do it in some exotic locale sipping complimentary champagne.
As a result, I've had more time than usual to waste completing my quest to read every Codex and write up a 1000 point list for it. I've already got two more after this one worked out, which should indicate how fortunate it is I got a job this summer, lest I have run out of different armies the week after I started.
Anyway, I obliquely promised Necrons last time, but I'd forgotten about the fourth (and thankfully final) unique Space Marines Chapter, the Dark Angels (has the Space-Marine-Chapter-naming-scheme become obvious, yet?). Don't worry, though; after this I'll knock out the plain old normal Space Marines and then we'll get back to the more alien armies.
The Dark Angels are loosely based on the old 'secret societies', especially the rumors surrounding the dissolution of the Knights Templar (which is an interesting read in Wikipedia, by the way). And yes, you're correct in noting that I already attributed the Knights Templar as the inspiration behind the Black Templar Chapter. What can I say? Maybe they're just not that creative.
Anyway, the Dark Angels are essentially identical to the vanilla Space Marines, with two exceptions:1) they cost slightly more (in points, I mean) than normal Space Marines, and 2) they have two special characters who allow for interestingly one-dimensional unit selections.
Specifically, they have two characters who allow you to field specific 'companies' of the Dark Angels. These are Belial, Master of the 'Deathwing' 1st Company, who allows you to count Terminator Squads as Troops instead of as Elites, and Sammael, Master of the 'Ravenwing' 2nd Company, who lets you count Biker Squads as Troops instead of as Fast Attack.
Now, I know I already gave this big explanation (in the Blood Angels list, if I recall correctly) about why I am loathe to include special characters in my armies. That said, without special characters, the Dark Angels are effectively just Space Marines in green armor (and with robes, which are pretty awesome-looking, I admit). Thus, the main ways people play Dark Angels are either as Deathwing or Ravenwing, and take almost exclusively Terminators or Bikers, respectively.
Then there's some people who mix the two, producing what's know as a "Deathraven" army (the alternative, Wingwing, is strangely ignored). I've gone this route with the army below; though technically more of a Deathwing list, it has elements of the Ravenwing as well, and at higher points levels could have a more even mix of units.
As usual, 'elite' armies like Deathraven have trouble at low (<1500) points levels, so recognize that this isn't the most tactically comfortable army. That said, I do think it is capable of winning games, or I wouldn't have presented it.
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Dark Angels - Deathraven Teleport Assault
HQ
Belial, Master of the Deathwing (130) [note#1]
-Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Troops [note#2]
Deathwing Terminator Squad (215)
-2 w/ Stormbolter & Powerfist (free)
-1 w/ Assault Cannon & Powerfist (30)
-1 w/ Stormbolter & Power Weapon (free)
-1 w/ Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Deathwing Terminator Squad (215)
-2 w/ Stormbolter & Powerfist (free)
-1 w/ Assault Cannon & Powerfist (30)
-1 w/ Stormbolter & Power Weapon (free)
-1 w/ Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Deathwing Terminator Squad (215)
-2 w/ Stormbolter & Powerfist (free)
-1 w/ Assault Cannon & Powerfist (30)
-1 w/ Stormbolter & Power Weapon (free)
-1 w/ Twin Lightning Claws (free)
Fast Attack [note#3]
Ravenwing Attack Squadron (120)
-w/ 2 meltaguns (20)
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Note#1:
First, I might as well point out the obvious: Yes, I broke down and took a special character. I kind of had to, even more than usual, and to be fair, Belial is one of the least-unique characters out there. Aside from making your army officially a Deathwing (and thus, Terminator Squads count as Troops, which is awesome), he's basically just a Company Master in Terminator Armor. Heck, in the previous edition of the Codex, he didn't even have a name; you just upgraded your normal HQ to be him.
He also gives you two options that I didn't get to take advantage of in this list: upgrading one Terminator to an Apothecary (letting you ignore the first failed save of each turn, a great ability) and upgrading a different one to be the Standard Bearer (giving that entire unit +1 Attack & letting everyone nearby re-roll Morale checks). Both are excellent, I just didn't have points for them. If this were an 1100-point list, they'd be in there.
While we're talking about options, I've given Belial the Lightning Claws, as it's probably the most useful close-combat setup for him, and you're only losing 2 stormbolter attacks to gain an extra attack plus rerolling to-wound.
Note#2:
The meat'n'potatoes of this list are the three Deathwing Terminator Squads that make up the Troops section (and it's basically a one-course meal, so I hope you like meat'n'potatoes). Note that I said 'Troops', there; the main draw of the Deathwing is that you get to use Terminators as scoring, objective-claiming Troops choices, so you don't have to worry about those comparatively-squishy Tactical Marines running around. Almost every member of the squad is outfitted differently, allowing you to play games with the Wound Allocation rules, though the benefits of this are somewhat limited (despite the big deal Dark Angels players seem to make over it...).
The thing Terminators are good at is being good at everything. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but they're still darn good at a lot of things. More importantly, they're durable enough that even if they fail the first time, they'll probably get a second (and third, and fourth...) chance at it. In shooting, each squad is toting an assault cannon (yes, that same old awesome-kill-everything-gun I've been pushing the last four lists) and 6 stormbolter shots just to pitch in. In close combat, they throw out 5 Power Weapon attacks (three of which reroll to-wound) and 6 Powerfist attacks (so Strength 8, but Initiative 1). Attach Belial to one squad, and it'll be able to beat down pretty much anything in the game.
Deathwing Terminators have the ability to teleport (that is, Deep-Strike) into the battle, meaning the termies' slow pace shouldn't hold you back too much. You can even make a Deathwing Assault, which is like a Drop-Pod Assault (half your force Deep-Strikes first turn) but better, since it's completely optional.
Note#3:
Of course, even meat'n'potatoes tastes better with some gravy. Here is the 'Raven' portion of our Deathraven - a squad of three Ravenwing Bikers. Bikes are nice because they're fast and somewhat tougher to wound than normal Marines, and they can Turboboost to dash 24" and gain an Invulnerable save, but with only three models, this unit is still the most fragile thing in your army, and the only one that will be deploying on the table if you're going the 'everything teleports' route.
The key here is to keep them hidden behind terrain. It's a fairly small unit, so that shouldn't be too impossible for the most part. Then zip them out to an enemy vehicle and take it down with those two meltaguns. Another nice bonus is the Teleport Homer each bike has equipped, which lets you Deep-Stike your Terminators much more accurately if you do so near the bikes.
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What's there to say about this list? It's tiny - only 19 models, though they're each quite durable. Despite that, I suspect it is a rather Unforgiving list to play (ha-ha, 40k-fluff pun!).
Deathwing is, at it's heart, a slow army. There's no one here who can move more than 12" a turn, maximum. The Ravenwing elements help make up for that, but not enough that you'll have much mobility. Essentially, you get to decide where you'll be once (when you Deep-Strike), and you'll be there the entire game, so choose well. The bikers can help with that, letting you teleport in more accurately.
You can mitigate this weakness in a few ways. If you're playing an objective-based mission (and 2/3rds of them are), you'll have a natural advantage in holding an objective, since your toughest units are also all scoring. When placing objectives, put three of them close together, in a little triangle, and Deep-Strike into the center of the triangle. This will let your units support each other and still be able to make a Turn 5 dash for the objectives. Mutual support is very important, because you'll almost always be outnumbered, especially against horde-style lists.
When fighting a mobile opponent (jetbike/mechanized Eldar, mechanized Tau, mechanized Guard, mechanized Anyone...) you'll run the risk of being outmanuvered and avoided. Take advantage of the space you threaten. With your powerfists, you can put some hurt on most vehicles, and you'll crush anything you charge in close combat (I hope, at least...), so anything that stops within 12" of you is going to regret it. Be stretching out a line of Terminators as far as you can, you can block off about a foot (5 x 1" bases + 2" between each one = 13"). With three of these, you can hold even very mobile forces in place, preventing them from getting away from you, though at the risk of being somewhat spread out.
Overall, this is an interesting list, with a very tight style of play that you don't see much of these days. It's fewer models than I'm usually comfortable with, but the more I look at it the more I like it.
Next Time (40k): /sigh/ Boring old Smurfs
Next Time (CopStuff): Hostages this Thursday(!!)
Next Time (philosophy): Ghost in the Shell, most likely
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