Deathwing 1500, please advise

[Chris Copeland]

Friends, I am considering building a Dark Angel army, I think that a Deathwing army would be fun and it would have the added benefit of being a fairly low model count army. It would be Belial leading 4 squads of Deathwing Termies backed up by a unit of Devestators (who would be behind an Aegis defense line).

The Termies could teleport into the battlefield and end up (hopefully) close to the enemy. I'm thinking that they'll be able to survive a round of shooting before they get into combat. The Termie sqauds are there to "bring it" to the enemy. The Devestators' job is to sit back and kill things from afar.

Any advice is appreciated. Cheers! Cope

Total Roster Cost: 1500

HQ: Belial, Master of the Deathwing (1#, 130 pts)
1 Belial, Master of the Deathwing, 130 pts

Troops: Deathwing Terminator Squad (5#, 245 pts)
4 Deathwing Terminator Squad, 202 pts = 4 * 43 (base cost 43) + Assault Cannon 30
1 Sergeant, 43 pts

Troops: Deathwing Terminator Squad (5#, 245 pts)
4 Deathwing Terminator Squad, 202 pts = 4 * 43 (base cost 43) + Assault Cannon 30
1 Sergeant, 43 pts

Troops: Deathwing Terminator Squad (5#, 245 pts)
4 Deathwing Terminator Squad, 202 pts = 4 * 43 (base cost 43) + Assault Cannon 30
1 Sergeant, 43 pts

Troops: Deathwing Terminator Squad (5#, 245 pts)
4 Deathwing Terminator Squad, 202 pts = 4 * 43 (base cost 43) + Assault Cannon 30
1 Sergeant, 43 pts

Heavy Support: Devastator Squad (10#, 305 pts)
9 Devastator Squad, 284 pts = 9 * 16 (base cost 16) + Lascannon x4 140
1 Sergeant, 18 pts

: Aegis Defence Lines (2#, 85 pts)
1 Aegis Defence Lines, 50 pts
1 Gun Emplacement, 35 pts = (base cost 0 + Icarus Lascannon 35)

[Dalleron]

I had my DW all done up with Cyclone missile launchers for the longer range over assault cannons. Even the assault units. It may be worth it to make the Sarge in the units into TH/SS models for the challenges of the nasty stuff. 3+ invul is pretty nice for that.

I built my DW near the end of 5th, so I had assault units in as well, with CML of course. I'm curious to see if all shooty termie army would work.

[Chris Copeland]

Here is the revised list. To get the Bikers I had to drop the Assault Cannons from all four squads. I changed all of my Sergeants to having TH/SSs. There aren't any points for the quad gun without dropping a squad of Termies (which would fundamentally change what this list is about).

Total Roster Cost: 1500

HQ: Belial, Master of the Deathwing (1#, 130 pts)
1 Belial, Master of the Deathwing, 130 pts

Troops: Deathwing Terminator Squad (5#, 215 pts)
4 Deathwing Terminator Squad, 172 pts = 4 * 43
1 Sergeant, 43 pts

Troops: Deathwing Terminator Squad (5#, 215 pts)
4 Deathwing Terminator Squad, 172 pts = 4 * 43
1 Sergeant, 43 pts

Troops: Deathwing Terminator Squad (5#, 215 pts)
4 Deathwing Terminator Squad, 172 pts = 4 * 43
1 Sergeant, 43 pts

Troops: Deathwing Terminator Squad (5#, 215 pts)
4 Deathwing Terminator Squad, 172 pts = 4 * 43
1 Sergeant, 43 pts

Heavy Support: Devastator Squad (10#, 305 pts)
9 Devastator Squad, 284 pts = 9 * 16 (base cost 16) + Lascannon x4 140
1 Sergeant, 18 pts

: Aegis Defence Lines (2#, 85 pts)
1 Aegis Defence Lines, 50 pts
1 Gun Emplacement, 35 pts = (base cost 0 + Icarus Lascannon 35)

Fast Attack: Ravenwing Attack Squadron (3#, 120 pts)
1 Ravenwing Attack Squadron, 0 pts
2 Bike Squad, 80 pts = 2 * 40
1 Sergeant, 40 pts

[apahllo]

Deathwing is hard to play in this edition. Las guns would hurt this list a lot just by pure weight of fire. Overwatch hurts as well. As for the devisators. 4mls with that Icarus las cannon would spell doom for fliers.

I've had trouble with termies and getting them into combat. You can get 2 on turn one and they can shoot pretty well but it is only 5 wounds a squad. Then others can be delayed if you don't get your rolls. This list you have depends way too much on the probability of scatter and reserves coming in. Plus if you go second and they kill the devs and small bike squad, you lose without having your tactical dreads hit the board. Biggest weakness of the army.

I've almost abandoned the pure deathwing approach in 6th after about 15 losses in 20 somewhat games. Death star units don't work as well with over watch and the general play shift to shooting. Try proxying this army first, before you buy it.

And stock termies aren't as versatile as they are made out to be. Especially with the missing assault cannons.

[Denzark]

I would respectfully agree with this. 20 TDA will die under torrent fire. Slowly but surely. The Devastators would be a priority target and with no redundancy are vulnerable. The fast attack squad would probably be my bet for winning me first blood if I didn't think I could torrent TDAs.

I reckon wait for the new codex - you may get soemthing to aid the all Deathwing.

Which is cool as f*c* btw.

[Iyandagar]

Having a Deathwing mob or two is all well and good, currently my Dark Angels were 2 for 0 up until a few hours ago. Sadly the Deathwing element, 2 squads AND Belial were the weak link, that and the suckiest dice rolls ever. Losing two Thunderhammer/Stormshild toting dudes to a round of Overwatch from 8 Grey Hunters hurt. That and the then ensuing Terminator off with Arjac leading the way.

Deathwing are good, expensive, lethal and satisfying watching them cleave through most things like soft cheese. Just bear in mind the dice Gods can turn on you in a heartbeat, that low model count then leaves you bracing for impact... Sadly no amount of heroics from my Vet Sergeant and his chainsword could alter the fact. Nor my Librarian double Perils-ing in two successive rounds.... Sadly I have racked up their stas to 2W 1L...

[WarHammerman]

I'm surprised to see a lack of the Upgraded Squad. That Apothecary can be amazing - TH&SH w/ FNP? Yes please.
The banner I'm more 'take it or leave it'.

And personally, for me the point of devastators is to have those heavy weapons. I'd rather field 2 squads of 5, then 1 squad of 10. This lets you get more heavy weapon shots, twice as many signums (for when you need at least one shot to count) and lets you have two different targets. However, the smaller numbers are just that - smaller numbers. Less "Ablative Dudes"

Well there's my two cents, take it or leave it.
- Hammerman

[Dalleron]

I had trouble finding the points to fit the apothecary in 1500 pts, and the banner to boot. Those 2 are 55 pts, iirc, and in an army with few models, those points could be used elsewhere.

Also, DA don't have the signum in their codex....yet.

[thelion]

as an avid death wing player i have a few peices of advice for you

1) with the current codex you can take storm shields and thunder hammer for free so, instead of putting 4 cookie cutter sqds on the table use some of the death wings special abilitys take the free special gear through a cyclone missile launcher on them and there you go a pair of hard hitting hard to kill units that can and most likely will make it across the board to mess up your opposition in close combat.

2) your lass cannons can deal with heavy armor but that is putting allot of eggs in one basket instead look at the fact that you can take chain fists one your death wing sqds (at 5 pts a piece i like them) now you have a mobile anti armor unit for a bit more flex

3) instead of lass cannons on your dev sqd i would look at missile launchers for a bit more flexibility and they will still kill most things dead plus you can spend 5 pts per to upgrade to some flac missles to give you some more anti air

4) not a big thing this is why i list it last but take a look at putting a death wing co standered in one of your sqd i use one with a storm sheild and thunder hammer in my army then i put belial in the sqd with it and they tare up almost any unit you can run them into that extra attack that they get from it makes a huge difference

but i do have to say all in all a great army lists this was just some things for you to think about. good hunting