Dark Angels.....less we forget!!!

[GeordieGenius]

Ok, so I'm going to continue my quest for ultimate fluffdum and collect a DA army....How have any of you found the DA to play?.....in other words are they fun!!!! Will buy all aspects (eventually) so will try them all out but what's your opinion on them?

[Deadlift]

Depends really what you want, if it's fluffy then just follow any of the units in the codex, however if you also want to be competitive as well then you can't go wrong with Deathwing, Ravenwing or a combo of the two. Ok you restrict yourself HQ wise but I personally think Belial is a real bargain for what he can do and making TDA count as troops, well it's nice :).
Be sure if you go down this route to print yourself a copy of their FAQ, it gave them quite a boost. I will try and dig my list out for you. I really found 2000pts is a good point range for DW.
As for my thoughts on Dark Angels, well they were my 1st army 20 odd years ago so I have a soft spot for them :).

Here it is, you could magnetise the TDA to give you the option of TH and SS, with the FAQ their much better.

Like This ?

Belial, Lightning Claws
130 pts
with
Deathwing Terminator Squad.
x3 Lightning Claws
x1 Apothecary
x1 Assault Cannon
Deathwing Company Banner
300 pts

Deathwing Terminator Squad
Sergeant has Lightning claws
x1 Assault Cannon
245 pts

Deathwing Terminator Squad
Sergeant has Lightning claws
x1 Assault Cannon
245 pts

Deathwing Terminator Squad
Sergeant has Lightning claws
x1 Cyclone missile Launcher
235 pts


Deathwing Terminator Squad
Sergeant has Lightning claws
x1 Cyclone missile Launcher
235 pts

Venerable Dreadnought
Lascannon
Missile Launcher
175pts

Venerable Dreadnought
Lascannon
Missile Launcher
175pts

Land Raider Crusader
250 pts


1990 pts

This was my list I used, had some help putting it together even now it's lots of fun.

[Brass Scorpion]

Dark Angels.....less we forget!!! I believe that's "lest we forget."

[dvs1]

I run a pure ravenwing army, and i find it is highly underrated.
2k

Sammy w/ landspeeder
chaplain w/ bike

x3 x6 man ravenwing bike squads w/ x2 plasma, x4 melts, x1 pw/melta bomb sgt, banner, apothecary
x3 attack bikes w/ MM
x3 landspeeder tornado w/ AC, HB

x3 man ravenwing w/ x2 flamers
x1 attack bike w/ MM

x3 Landspeeder typhoons w/ TML, HB

Thats seven landspeeders to dish out the pain with handfuls of dice. Things will die. Plenty of outflanking suicide melta, with both the ability to alpha strike using scout moves, or go all reserve from a flank or such. Just make sure to keep your opponent at arms length 18-24, and shoot until everything dies. Your entire army being T5 should not be over looked as well, just pick your fights carefully. Helps that this list can make 11 scoring units as well, with speeders to last turn contest. I'm thinking I should screw the chappy and command squad, and buy me 3 more bikes and another tornado =)
... and don't tell me my army aint fluffy ;)

[AngelsofDeath]

You have to be a real Dark Angels fan and appreciate the story line to play them I think. If your doing it for the Termi type army they can be fun to play and can win with some tactics and a bit a luck. If you want a bike army I think running a Vanilla Space marines bike army out of Codex Space Marines is a better and cheaper points choice in the long run.

I use to run Dark Angels out of the old Codex and use to have a pretty good time with it. Kept building my army in anticipation for the Codex release. Bought my copy the day it was released, sold my painted DA army and brand new codex on ebay the next day. I liked all the old stuff they use to do, and the banners and such. Just my opinion. But good luck with your army, no matter what you choose. By the way red seems to go faster....even for marines..hint hint.... ;)

[dvs1]

Not trying to pick a fight, but no vanilla SM bike army can do what ravenwing bring to the table. Yes, they have bike command squads and more/cheaper options, but they all compete for the same slot : FA. No one can take the mix of bikes, attack bikes, and speeders that the ravenwing can. Most importantly, all acting independently and NOT in squadrons. I'll gladly throw a few 50 pt attack bikes in front of scarier things just for the trade off. No we don't have combat tactics, but scout is just as useful if not more with just the sheer options it brings which are not so situational. Fearless seems bad at first glance, but in such a small model count army you now have to kill all of them as they will never run away. If they managed to charge you, then you did something wrong and that squad now deserves to die anyway. Not saying SM bike armies aren't the way to go, but they should not be automatically considered better than ravenwing without some serious thought to what exactly you want out of your bike army.

[blackarmchair]

Not trying to pick a fight, but no vanilla SM bike army can do what ravenwing bring to the table. Yes, they have bike command squads and more/cheaper options, but they all compete for the same slot : FA. No one can take the mix of bikes, attack bikes, and speeders that the ravenwing can. Most importantly, all acting independently and NOT in squadrons. I'll gladly throw a few 50 pt attack bikes in front of scarier things just for the trade off. No we don't have combat tactics, but scout is just as useful if not more with just the sheer options it brings which are not so situational. Fearless seems bad at first glance, but in such a small model count army you now have to kill all of them as they will never run away. If they managed to charge you, then you did something wrong and that squad now deserves to die anyway. Not saying SM bike armies aren't the way to go, but they should not be automatically considered better than ravenwing without some serious thought to what exactly you want out of your bike army.

Actually, a Space Marine Biker army also has bikers as troops. If a 'Nilla SM captain (or kor'sarro Khan) is on a bike then biker squads of 5-men or more count as troops. So given the cost of bikes in each codex I think AngelsOfDeath was correct when he said that C:SM does bikes better.

C:SM can easily get the same number of bike units and speeders that you have in your list and can do it for cheaper as well. The only thing extra DA get is scout and Sammael, but IMO this is MORE than made up for by combat tactics, biker command squads and the cheaper costs of bikes/attack bikes in general in the codex.

[dvs1]

SM biker squads are cheaper no doubt, but lack the ability to each buy an independent attack bike and tornado to go along with it. You could buy 3 squadrons of 3 like you suggested making the grand total more, but like i said they're in squadrons and thats a waste of their firepower. Attack bike squads for the vanilla dex, falls under the same conundrum. Also, the attached attack bikes to the SM bike squad does not sync well with the rest of the unit unless you dump the special weapons in the other half and combat squad them, making you max out their size always. Single Model Attack Bikes Work Wonders. SM can only do that per FA slot on the FOC. IMO the 4 independent attack bikes and tornados give the ravenwing their edge. Thats not even counting my 3 typhoons in my FA ...

Again, I do like combat tactics and it is nice making your opponent think if it will be worth it if he shoots your unit and it falls back out of charge range, but it is rather situational. I try not to put myself in that position to begin with, rather my opponent reacting to me. Scout adds a whole 'nother dimension to my army that I cannot find elsewhere. If I win the roll off and my opponent doesn't hug his edge, I can scout my entire army to within firing range before turn 1, not to mention my meltabomb sgts have the opportunity to hth some stock still tanks before they know whats coming. That finally makes the stock krak grenades almost useful =).