Dark angels, my thoughts.

[spaceman91]

Yesterday i played three games against them. My friend who was using them is quite good at the game but with the angels he couldnt win. All three games he was utterly destroyed. This leaves me feeling a little unimpressed with them. I know another friend who is now in Canada, lost five games in a row with them and once again its not him because he has won tournament a fare few times. So all this makes me think that maybe DA aren't all that. Thoughts?

[Mr Mystery]

Not much info given.

What missions were played? What forces comprised each army? Did the dice act up?

There's nothing wrong with their Codex, and it has plenty of sauce to pelt the enemy with. Seems most likely it is the players. Winning Tournaments doesn't mean much. After all, if they were 3rd Ed tournaments with Rhino Rush Blood Angels, an otter could repeat that performance.

[eldargal]

Three games is not enough to make any kind of judgement about a codex.

[Wolfshade]

Three games is not enough to make any kind of judgement about a codex.

Nor indeed to get to know how the army works

[spaceman91]

im not saying its useless im just saying from what i have seen im not too impressed. the three missions were 2x VPs and 1x relic. I know three game isnt a lot to judge on but the codex just seemed lacking in something. i dont know what it is. the codex itself looked good when i looked through it but it just seemed it needed (i cant find the word but xfactor will have to do). i dont mean to slag the new codex off but it just seems to lack that wow thing for me. by this i mean my wolves: i fell in love with the lone wolf as soon as i read its fluff. my BA: i love the way they may go nuts at the start of a game. i cant find a way to love these guys ( the models are pretty not taking that away from them ) but the army doesnt jump at me. this thread was put up for a two reasons. 1 i want to be proved wrong. i like to see armys with pretty models do well. 2 to see if others had found the same. im sorry if i seemed to complain pointlessly that wasnt my intention.

[energongoodie]

I'm jumping on the Ravenwing bandwagon and hope to have my first game with them soon.

On the codex, I'm finding it a little too lite on stories and background for my liking. Was the Chaos Marine codex the same? Are these new hard back codices all going to be leaner, meaner and a bit boring? I've found myself trying to go back to it, like I do with the Space Wolf book, the Blood Angels book etc for a fun bit of background reading, but I feel like it's all over with a bit quick.

It just seems a little too condensed background wise for my taste, but I am loving the rules.

[Sly]

The DA Codex is a solid fire line Codex. It puts out a lot of anti-infantry firepower relatively efficiently. But it doesn't put out special amount of anti-tank firepower, and it's severely lacking in efficient anti-air. In CC it's competent but not special, and the DW squads which are its main CC strength seem a bit overpriced. The Flyers are terrible.

Overall, I think it's fine, but has no special competence. It's really good at killing hordes if you want to go that way, but that doesn't seem like an important enough goal to build for it.

It does have one building block that looks awesome, but that won't be a pure DA list: if you put Azrael into an IG block, they get 4++ and Fearless plus a CC killer who can either accept Challenges or duck behind a whole bunch of Sergeants, depending on the opponent champions available. That's what I will be running, plus a LRC with the Devastation Banner inside, and then RW/DW for mobility and more CC ability. The only thing I can think of to do with Flyers is to take the center of the board and prevent them from getting shooting runs in, and hope to just outlast a Baledrake list with 40-50 bodies with a 4++.

[spaceman91]

The DW squads which are its main CC strength seem a bit overpriced. The Flyers are terrible.

Overall, I think it's fine, but has no special competence.

This is what me and my friend found areselves saying. that said the DW knight hurt on the turn they did thier smite thing.

[BigFreakySean]

im not saying its useless im just saying from what i have seen im not too impressed. the three missions were 2x VPs and 1x relic. I know three game isnt a lot to judge on but the codex just seemed lacking in something. i dont know what it is.

Maybe your opponent isn't the tactical wizard you believed him to be? Maybe his forces were poorly equipped or organized to be effective. Then there is always the issue that the army doesn't fit his play style. Or maybe he was forgetting a key ability. Without seeing the lists, the terrain and know what happened I have no idea where the problem might lie.

Honestly I looked at the codex and I am probably gonna field my Ultramarines as Dark Angels.

QUOTE=spaceman91;279599] i cant find a way to love these guys ( the models are pretty not taking that away from them ) but the army doesnt jump at me. this thread was put up for a two reasons.[/QUOTE]

Then dont love them. I don't understand the need to love EVERYTHING a company does. I despise the Fantasy Rules and will never play them again. I will gladly paint the fantasy miniatures for use in my DnD games.

I don't like the space wolve concept as the idea of marines riding big wolves seems silly to me. However, I am working on a space wolf force modeled after the Thundercats which I think is hilarious. Especially when I ally them to my IG that looks like Cobra.

I think my point is sometimes you have to make your own fun or find someway to like something if you really want to.

QUOTE=spaceman91;279599]1 i want to be proved wrong. i like to see armys with pretty models do well. 2 to see if others had found the same. im sorry if i seemed to complain pointlessly that wasnt my intention.[/QUOTE]

I think the DA does a gunline army crazy well. They also can do bike armies super awesome!! I am not sold on terminator armies since torrent of fire will bring them down ... though it depends on what the opponent has. A lot of armies have gone plasma happy. In the 11th company tournament I did not have quite the fire power I needed to deal with 10 terminators, should have ignored that squad in hindsight and focused on the scoring units.

That is my two cents

[Shaun]

Wait till you get assaulted by the DA after being shot with stasis or rad grenades. The codex is for an army design requiring interlocking units supporting each other. Its a very fluffy thing "we are the Dark Angels and we work our stuff amongst oursleves"

The bikes both Raven wing and especially Black Knights are very good combined with termies deepstriking on their beacons. Toughness 5 level 2 psykers on bikes for 100 odd points and a toolbox of powers and buffs makes them very good. A psyker on a bike with the Black Knights with invisibility ? hit with stasis or rad grenades best watch out. Belial and his termies dont scatter and neither does anything else following on his beacon. They can shoot they are mobile and can mix and match terminator squads. If they take Azrael for about 200 points you get troop bikes and termies. Yeah their flyers suck but not that badly and the derpspeeder you will never call that pulpit cannon dumb after the derp pokes it round a corner and shoots you with it still out of LOS. Overall its a solid codex I have played with the codex and against it about 6-8 times now and its a solid book nothing screaming OP but plenty of good units with some nasty tricks. The flyers, troops, bikes and termies are designed to work at their best together.