Giving the Dark Angels some new options

[Houghten]

So one of the complaints laid at the door of Codex: Dark Angels is that many of the things that made them unique have cropped up in other Space Marine armies, such as:
Ability to take Terminators as Troops (Codex: Space Wolves, Codex: Grey Knights)
Ability to mix and match ranged / assault Terminator weapons (Codex: Space Wolves)
Ability to take bikers as Troops (Codex: Space Marines)
Incendiary Castellan missiles (Codex: Space Marines, Codex: Space Wolves, Codex: Blood Angels)
...which leaves them, as far as I can tell, with the teleport homers on the Ravenwing bikes. Yaaaaaaay. What's worse, the other chapters can often do it better.

I can't shut the stable door, but I can suggest some new toys for the Unforgiven to play with. So without further ado:

Deathwing Devastators
When the Deathwing work without the support of the other Dark Angels companies, the sheer bulk of their Terminator armour means they must eschew Rhino and Razorback transports in favour of the larger Land Raider. This has led some of the Chapter's Techmarines to devise replacements for all other vehicles based on the Rhino chassis, leading to such Land Raider patterns as the Ares with its hull-mounted Demolisher cannon. Still others mount heavy weapons directly onto the Terminators themselves, allowing the Deathwing to be their own fire support. These "Deathwing Devastators" advance directly into the jaws of the enemy, weathering a hail of fire in their nigh-impregnable armour before unleashing the fury of their own weapons. Such is the power of such a salvo that there are few outside the Unforgiven who have seen it and lived - and many of those fell to the Terminators' power weapons soon after.

Heavy Support, 215 points
Unit Composition: 1 Terminator Sergeant, 4 Terminators (statlines as per Deathwing Terminators)
Unit Type: Infantry
Wargear: Terminator armour, power fist (Sergeant instead has a power sword), storm bolter
Special Rules: Deathwing Assault, Fearless
Options: Any model may replace his storm bolter with:
Plasma storm...................................... +15 pts
Any model may replace his power fist or power sword with:
Storm shield........................................ +15 pts
Any Terminator may take one of the following:
Cyclone missile launcher......................... +20 pts
Cyclone lascannon............................... +40 pts
Cyclone multi-melta.............................. +20 pts
Cyclone grenade launcher........................ +5 pts
Cyclone vengeance launcher....................+20 pts
Cyclone flame cannon............................+20 pts
Cyclone smoke launchers....................... +15 pts
Any Terminator that does not take a cyclone pattern weapon may replace his storm bolter with one of the following:
Assault cannon.................................. +30 pts
Heavy flamer...................................... +5 pts
Plasma cannon....................................+15 pts
Heavy bolter with hellfire shells................+15 pts
Any Terminator that replaces his storm bolter (other than with a plasma storm) may replace his power fist with a second, identical weapon for free, counting them as twin-linked.
The Terminator Sergeant may replace his power sword and / or storm bolter with:
Master-crafted power sword....................+5 pts
Lightning claw......................................+5 pts
Thunder hammer...................................+5 pts
Combi-flamer, -melta or -plasma................+10 pts
Targeting beacon..................................+10 pts
The Terminator Sergeant may take any of the following:
Melta bombs........................................+5 pts
Cyclone blind grenade launcher.................+10 pts

New Wargear, in Order of Appearance
Plasma storm: 24", S7, AP2, Assault 2, Gets Hot!
Cyclone lascannon: 48", S9, AP2, Heavy 2
Cyclone multi-melta: 24", S8, AP1, Heavy 2, Melta
Cyclone grenade launcher (frag): 24", S4, AP6, Heavy 2, 3" Blast
Cyclone grenade launcher (krak): 24", S6, AP4, Heavy 2
Cyclone vengeance launcher: 24", S5, AP4, Heavy 1, 5" Blast
Cyclone flame cannon: Template,* S6, AP4, Heavy 1
*Place the narrow end of the template within 6" of the firer and the wide end no closer than the narrow end. The cyclone flame cannon is then treated like any other template weapon.
- Any cyclone pattern weapon may be fired in addition to the model's storm bolter or plasma storm.
Cyclone smoke launchers: Once per game, in the owning player's Shooting phase, grant the unit a 4+ cover save until the end of the following player turn. The squad may not fire other weapons or assault that turn.
Targeting beacon: 24", S3, AP-, Heavy 1, Beacon*
*Beacon: The targeting beacon is fired before any other weapons in the unit. If it hits, the unit gains +1 BS for that shooting phase.
Cyclone blind grenade launcher: as long as the bearer is alive, the unit (and any attached characters) counts as being equipped with defensive grenades.

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Ravenwing Company Veterans
In the high-speed world of the Ravenwing, often operating far enough ahead of a Dark Angels task force that they are effectively without support, a Space Marine lives or dies on his own merits. Those that survive long enough may be assigned to lead other Ravenwing Attack Squadrons or organised into Veteran Squadrons and sent to destroy the most dangerous targets.

Elites, 120 pts
Unit Composition: 1 Ravenwing Sergeant, 2 Ravenwing Veterans (statlines as per Ravenwing Sergeants), 0 Veteran Attack Bikes (statlines as per Attack Bikes but with A4 and LD9)
Unit Type: Bikes
Wargear: Power armour, bolt pistol or chainsword, frag grenades, krak grenades, Space Marine bike with twin-linked bolters and teleport homer. Veteran Attack Bikes also have a heavy bolter.
Special Rules: Fearless, Scouts, Combat Squads, Jink*
*Jink: Ravenwing Veterans become expert at controlling their bikes at high speeds, dodging incoming fire by making turns that would flatten a man without the genehancements of the Astartes. They have a 4+ invulnerable save.
Options: May include up to seven additional Ravenwing Veterans at +35 pts each, and / or up to two Veteran Attack Bikes at +50 pts each, but the total number of riders in the unit may not exceed ten.*
*No, you may not model your Veteran Attack Bikes with a single rider to get around this.
Up to four Ravenwing Veterans may take:
Flamer........................................ +5 pts
Meltagun.................................... +10 pts
Plasma gun.................................. +15 pts
The Veteran Attack Bike may replace its heavy bolter with:
Multi-melta................................. free
Heavy bolter with hellfire shells.........+5 pts
Plasma cannon.............................+5 pts
Hurricane bolter............................+5 pts
The Ravenwing Sergeant may replace his bolt pistol with:
Plasma pistol................................ +15 pts
Storm bolter................................ +5 pts
Combi-flamer, -melta or -plasma.........+10 pts
Plasma storm............................... +15 pts
The Ravenwing Sergeant may take one of:
Power sword............................... +15 pts
Lightning claw.............................. +15 pts
Power fist................................... +25 pts
Thunder hammer........................... +30 pts
Any model may take:
Melta bombs................................. +5 pts
Storm shield.................................. +5 pts
The whole unit may load their twin-linked bolters (including any hurricane bolters) with:
Hellfire rounds................................+3 pts each
Dragonfire bolts..............................+3 pts each
Kraken penetrators..........................+3 pts each
Vengeance rounds...........................+3 pts each

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New options for Ravenwing Support Squadrons

Typhoon pattern lascannon...............+20 pts
48", S9, AP2, Heavy 2

Typhoon pattern plasma cannon........ +20 pts
36", S7, AP2, Heavy 2, 3" Blast

Typhoon pattern Castellan launcher..... +35 pts
48", S4, AP5, Heavy 2, 5" Blast, Ignores Cover

Typhoon pattern melta blaster............ +25 pts
24", S8, AP1, Heavy 2, 3" Blast, Melta

Tornado pattern twin-linked heavy bolter... +10 pts
What it says on the tin.

Tornado pattern hurricane bolter.............+15 pts
Uh, yeah.

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Land Raider Atlas
From a certain point of view, the Land Raider Atlas is the logical evolution of the Land Raider Crusader. Where the Crusader gains transport space by replacing its sponson lascannon and their bulky power generators with the more compact hurricane bolters, the Atlas forgoes weaponry almost entirely in order to gain every last cubic inch of transport space possible, and its machine-spirit is single-minded to a fault, driving onward until the enemy is blinded by its headlights before disgorging its passengers in a whirlwind assault.

Heavy Support, or Dedicated Transport for Deathwing Terminators / Deathwing Devastators, 210 pts
Unit Composition: 1 Land Raider Atlas (statline as per Land Raider)
Unit Type: Vehicle (Tank)
Wargear: Frag assault launchers, hull-mounted storm bolter, smoke launchers, searchlight, extra armour
Transport capacity: 20
Fire points: none
Access points: Five - two on each side, one at the front
Special Rules: Power of the Machine Spirit, Assault Vehicle, Roomy*
*Roomy: The Land Raider Atlas may transport up to two separate units simultaneously. If it is bought as a dedicated transport, it may still begin the game with up to two squads embarked, one of which must be the squad which bought it as a transport.

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So, thoughts? Would you play them? Would you let your opponent use them (if they put in the modelling effort, of course)? Do the points costs look as if I haven't given them a great deal of thought? (I have, but it wasn't all coherent.) Did I make any spelling mistakes? Do you have any unit suggestions of your own? (I'm musing about the possibility of a Heavy Land Speeder Squadron to support the Ravenwing Veterans...) Was the whole thing just Too Long and you Didn't Read?

Disclaimer: Warhammer 40,000 is the intellectual property of Games Workshop, not me. No statlines for existing units or weapons have been reproduced here, though some are quite similar to existing units or weapons. The fluff I have written is not canon. Should it turn out that anything I have produced here is sufficiently similar to upcoming units, weapons or fluff that it might present some threat to Games Workshop's intellectual property, or even that an employee of Games Workshop should be inspired by an idea published here, I relinquish any and all rights that might otherwise be mine as a result of publishing this material.

[Tynskel]

I'd come up with more fluff to the Atlas.

For ex:
The Atlas was conceived at the Siege of Nuermarks III. The Deathwing had run nearly out of ammo, and the techmarines proposed a bold line breaker plan to reach an extraction point: stripping the land raiders of its weapons and equipping all terminators with close combat weapons. Covering fire would be supplied by vindicators, and the marines would follow behind at the quick step...

ect. ect.

[Rapture]

Your terminators are out of control. What could possibly stand up to a 370 point squad of BS 5 (67% of the time) 10 plasma shots (assault 24") and 8 multi-melta shots when they are 2+ 3++?

I would take three squads. One of the above (370 points) and two that trade the multi-meltas to be able to shoot s5 ap4 5" templates on top of their plasma shots (740 points). And they all have 4 power fists and 5 storm shields. It might be just shy of 56% of my army, but throw in 3 TL autocannon dreads (to spill the transports before one of the pie plate squads SMASHES whatever was inside), 2 five man tactical squads with razorbacks to also lash out and vehicles (or maybe some bike troops with homers and melta-guns depending on points and legality), and cheap HQ, and your point-and-click army will give your opponent serious trouble.

I like the idea, but there is a reason why things like this don't already exist.

[Houghten]

I'd come up with more fluff to the Atlas.

For ex:
The Atlas was conceived at the Siege of Nuermarks III. The Deathwing had run nearly out of ammo, and the techmarines proposed a bold line breaker plan to reach an extraction point: stripping the land raiders of its weapons and equipping all terminators with close combat weapons. Covering fire would be supplied by vindicators, and the marines would follow behind at the quick step...

ect. ect.Mmmmperhaps. It's amazing how many Space Marine vehicles are born out of the need to break one kind of siege or another.


Your terminators are out of control. What could possibly stand up to a 370 point squad of BS 5 (67% of the time) 10 plasma shots (assault 24") and 8 multi-melta shots when they are 2+ 3++?

I would take three squads. One of the above (370 points) and two that trade the multi-meltas to be able to shoot s5 ap4 5" templates on top of their plasma shots (740 points). And they all have 4 power fists and 5 storm shields. It might be just shy of 56% of my army, but throw in 3 TL autocannon dreads (to spill the transports before one of the pie plate squads SMASHES whatever was inside), 2 five man tactical squads with razorbacks to also lash out and vehicles (or maybe some bike troops with homers and melta-guns depending on points and legality), and cheap HQ, and your point-and-click army will give your opponent serious trouble.

I like the idea, but there is a reason why things like this don't already exist.

Well, that's why I'm asking for feedback, isn't it?

I have to admit, I didn't see spam coming. Naive of me, perhaps, but you don't homebrew units and expect to use them in a tournament, do you? Even so, you have several valid points (except the one about them all having power fists and storm shields - I specifically wrote it so they had to swap the power fist for the storm shield). The plasma storms need to be at least 20 points, maybe 25, since a regular plasma gun is 15 by itself. Some of the launchers need to be "one model may take...", in particular the Vengeance launcher, which was conceived as a short-ranged, non-Ordnance replacement for the Whirlwind but since you can only take three Whirlwinds...yeah. And I don't think any amount of points costing could un-break the targeting beacon, so I'll just remove it and give the sergeant the ability to buy a signum.

Historically I've had bad experiences with putting too many points into too few units as you describe above, although that's usually Nobz. Maybe it's different for Marines.

[phoenix01]

Change number one: all plasma weaponry is immune to gets hot.

Change number two: instead of one special weapon and one heavy in their tactical squads, DA can take two special OR two heavy, so long as both are plasma.

Change number three: every unit has a choice of at least one plasma weapon.

Change number four: make bikes and terminators troops regardless of special character.

Change number five: Knights of the Inner Circle. Veteran troops with access to all wargear. Very expensive, but essentially five Space Marine Captains running around. Can split and join other squads as sergeant like leaders, giving that unit fearless USR.

[Rapture]

Well, that's why I'm askin for feedback, isn't it?.
Touche.

A 0-1 limit is the easiest fix. The unit is still very powerful. Taking away access to storm shields would be for the best. One of the biggest problems is the amount of firepower they put out. Killing an entire enemy unit with the shooting from one unit usually doesn't happen in 40k. It seriously reduces the tactics required and makes for an unhappy opponent. Cutting the options from 4 heavy weapons to 2 might be the best way to go, but that will cut pretty seriously into your idea.

[MorbidAri]

I love the idea of a gunner DW unit. Perhaps giving them default heavy bolters and having up to 2 models taking heavier weapons would be better. Also, exempting them from the use of SS would be the only way to balance them. Giving them a split fire rule as long as a squad leader is present would be a good option too. Yes that sounds an awful lot like SW, but the rule being called "We're outnumbered from all sides" or something to that effect would allow for fluff, because we all know DW are always outnumbered.

The other option are chapter specific weapons for DW. . Perhaps giving DW a +1 or +2 str master crafted weapon option instead of a power fist. Thus making them more elite and more unique in a sea of generic and only slightly different SM codexs.

Also adding in some unique squads could be the only way DA will ever be able to justify their own codex. Giving some variation to the static and universal termmy squad would help. Like a horde hunter squad with 2 power weapons and preferred enemy rule. Or a Xenos hunter squad with a power weapon and flamers with move through cover.

Just a few ideas. As a DA player for many years (since 2nd). I am awaiting a new codex, but one that might make the army different enough for DA to not just be a dark green color difference.