Horus Heresy Review: Dark Fury Assault Squad

Background
Leaping on to the battlefield from aerial support sections of the legion, the dark fury squads - a specialist type of Raven Guard assault unit - specialise in getting in to the right position at the right time, using all available terrain, to perform the decapitation strike where it is most required.

Strengths
The major difference between dark fury squads and regular assault squads are both their use of lightning claws and their special rules that enhance their use. To my mind, they sit at the mid-point between assault squads and the chaos space marine Warp Talons. They don't have any blinding effects when they come in to play, but they do gain a cover save for the single turn that they arrive by deep strike. This is important as they will be reliant on it to survive for one turn since they cannot assault directly after deep striking.

Their second advantage over assault squads is that they gain one bonus initiative point on the charge. This can be amazing as they're now going to be striking first against most other legions and squads at improved initiative. Therefore these squads are ones to use in a very specialised manner: they must come in, survive for one turn and charge on the next turn. And they must choose their targets well. Don't forget the Raven Guard legion rules as well which means they they will also have furious charge.

Weaknesses
Although the sergeant (known as the Chooser of the Slain) has artificer armour and the Raven's Talons, the rest of the squad are basically standard space marines with jump packs. They are just as vulnerable as regular assault squads. The significant draw back here though is the complete lack of ranged weaponry. They must get in to combat to have any effect whatsoever.

Builds
There really are not too many builds to consider to be honest, since there are not too many options to pick between. Here are just two. Either way, they're great, and highly points efficient. Just remember: no ranged weapons.

5 Dark Furies (175 points)
The vanilla flavour squad. Nothing special here, but they don't need much. They should be headed  (nay: charging) directly to their target after deep striking and running.

10 Dark Furies, Chooser of the Slain with melta bombs (330 points)
The fully kitted-out version of the squad. Probably a bit overkill to be honest, but it is slightly cheaper than having two lots of the above version. At this level, I might be preferring a regular assault squad, but it depends on your preferences between ranged weapons being deployed quickly and assault-tuned jump pack squads. Equally, put a chaplain with them for bonus kills and be happy.