Dark Angels Review: Tactical Squad

At the core, the tactical squad is as good as it ever is for any space marine army.  But there are important differences.  The squad veteran sergeant is not an automatic include: it can be purchased as an optional extra.  The troops have grim resolve in addition to And They Shall Know No Fear.  Part of this counters the ability to choose to fail a morale test, the other half grant stubborn.  These are interesting additions to the regular marine squad.

The wide array of options available means that the Dark Angels tactical squad can assume a number of battlefield roles, ranging from cheap firepower, to drop pod antics, objective sitters, to mini heavy weapon squads.

Let's have a look at a few example builds:

5 tactical marines (incl 1 sergeant), 1 missile launcher with flak (95 points)
This is a mini heavy weapons squad.  Place on top of an objective on the back line and stay there.  Take pot shots at anything that takes your fancy.  I think the 15 pt option for the plasma cannon would also be a nice cheap option (85 points) that could be entertaining especially if it weren't the only one.

10 tactical marines, 1 melta gun, 1 multi melta, rhino (195 points)
What, are we still thinking like a 5th edition player?  Yep. But, I think the meta will shift back to tanks soon, simply to counter the all infantry meta we're seeing.  Hello rhino rush (lol).

10 tactical marines, 1 flamer, 1 plasma cannon, 1 veteran sergeant with thunder hammer, drop pod with locator beacon (245 points)
Combat squad them if required and create a plasma cannon objective holding squad and take the more assault orientated option in the drop pod along with an appropriate HQ choice.  The locator beacon is to bring down terminators and the like as required.

10 tactical marines (140 points)
Use next to a command squad with a standard of devastation. They're still marines with a 3+ save and they're scoring.  There's little not to like about a humble squad.

Dark Angels Review: Ravenwing Command Squad

Sammael and any other bike-mounted HQ will give the Dark Angels player access to the Ravenwing command squad option. Like the Death Wing Command squad, this one also does not occupy a force organization chart slot.

Like a regular ravenwing squad, there's plenty to like here and plenty to choose between.  The twin-linked 18" plasma gun (aka plasma talon) gives the squad valuable ranged low AP firepower.  The corvus hammer grants S+1 and rending to give a valuable close combat option.  And of course, there's the speed of the squad -- as with all ravenwing options this is part of the key.  Further, they get the skilled rider rule to add to their potency over regular squads -- they're actually ravenwing black knights at their heart.

So what optional advantages are there?  Well, they get access to the Dark Angels sacred standards.  Of these, the standard of fortitude stands out for me (re-rolling of pinning and morale, coupled with feel no pain).  But it is hugely expensive in real terms.  To get feel no pain, I think an apothecary biker would be a much better idea for a unit.  Meanwhile, the Ravenwing Company Banner presents an interesting and cheaper option: automatically passing hit and run checks is amazing, as well as rolling an extra die for hit and run distance.  This is really what will make a ravenwing army component shine brightly if used correctly.  The ability to get out of a bad combat, or shoot and redeploy as required (with extra distance) is simply something that no other army has in abundance.

Here's a trio of sample builds:

Ravenwing command squad, ravenwing company standard, 1 ravenwing grenade launcher, 1 ravenwing apothecary (165 points)
A great combination of abilities.  The grenade launcher is a neat addition, particularly for the stasis anomaly grenade that can make a huge difference against fighting other space marine armies in the meta game since it means -1 WS and -1 I for the squad that is hit by it.

Ravenwing command squad, Standard of Fortitude, 1 Ravenwing champion (210 points)
Team up with your HQ and use the standard of fortitude to grant feel no pain to a wide range of nearby squads.  The ravenwing champion is for extra close combat mileage.

Ravenwing command squad, 1 ravenwing grenade launcher, Revered Standard (145 points)
The crusader rule is okay, as is this entire squad.  Go for the first option above instead.  This one is included here only for completeness and only if there are 2 FOCs available.

Dark Angels Review: Death Wing Command Squad

If we have a terminator HQ, then we can select a Death Wing command squad.  In the same way as a regular command squad, they don't count towards the force organization chart at all.

The unique aspects of the command squad come down to several key factors. Firstly, there is access to the banners.  The Death Wing Company banner is pricey, but adding an extra attack to all nearby units is going to be good if the banner survives.  The sacred standards feel a bit wasted on this command squad though: they don't have the boltguns to convert to salvo 2/4 with the devastation standard and since they're fearless, they're not really wanting to re-roll morale checks all the time either.  Feel no pain might be nice, but we could buy an apothecary instead, which seems like a much better deal to me.

Other than the banner consideration, the command squad gets a lot of flexibility about weapon choice, akin to the regular Death Wing terminator squad.  Its worth remembering that these guys get twin linked on the turn they deep strike in and split fire.  Team up with Belial to ensure that they don't scatter when they land as well.  There's plenty to like!

Here's a few example builds:

Death Wing Command Squad, Death Wing Company Banner, 3 thunder hammers and storm shields, 1 death wing champion with halberd of Caliban, 1 apothecary with a heavy flamer (325 points)
Deep strike this one with Belial.  Its there to benefit from the company banner, so get up close and personal and make sure you have further close combat death wing squads in support.  The apothecary will help keep them alive against low AP weapons, and the heavy flamer is simply a one shot wonder to use on the turn you deep strike.  After that, its melee glory or death frankly!

Death Wing Command Squad, Death Wing Company Banner, 1 assault cannon, 2 chain fists, 1 death wing champion with halberd of Caliban (300 points)
A complex beast: at its heart, it is a multi-purpose support unit.  Deep strike next to the primary assault squad so that they benefit from the company banner.  Do a turn or two of shooting and then go after what ever target you wish: light tank, other heavy infantry, etc.

Death Wing Command Squad, 1 apothecary, 1 plasma cannon (265 points)
A support squad for a librarian in terminator armour perhaps: keep to the shooting and keep the librarian alive.  Add a land raider to taste (indeed, I probably should add that to all of the above example builds).

Guild Wars 2 (off topic!)

RE: Guild Wars 2.
wow -- just looked at our Alpharius guild that I happened to mention in my previous post and saw that 25 people had scoped it out whilst I was offline!

To re-cap:
We play on the "Fissure of Woe" server (yes: I know its a very underpopulated server, but that's the point: bonus XP for hunting creatures that have been around for a while!)

Our (fledgling) guild is "Alpharius".  If you're interested in joining and want an invite, message me in game via /w or by sending an in-game mail (my user name is jabberjabber.6804 and I'm often playing a character called Aldronia).

Alternatively (or preferably!), send me an email at: warpstoneflux@gmail.com and tell me your gw2 details and I'll send an invite when I'm next online.  Feel free to say g'day!

Thousand Sons: GW2 or GW IP emblem?

I'm currently playing a bit of Guild Wars 2 in the evenings.  I noticed this guild emblem whilst I was poking around.  Now take a look at the pre-heresy Thousand Sons emblem / legion icon in the image.  What differences are there and what similarities?

Clearly the sub-burst motif is highly similar.  Neither company (probably) can claim rights to it.  But notice that guild wars 2 places a scarab in the centre of the burst.  Seriously: a scarab.  What does this say to any chaos player out there other than Thousand Sons?  Or can GW2 argue that the superposition of the two is original intellectual property.  Anyway, there's two reasons I mention this.  Firstly is out of pure interest concerning an ongoing legal case that most players will know about with chapterhouse studios.  

The second is that if you're playing guild wars 2, come and say "hi" to jabberjabber.6804

We play on the "Fissure of Woe" server (yes: I know its a very underpopulated server, but that's the point: bonus XP for hunting creatures that have been around for a while!) and have formed the "Alpharius" guild (because we are all Alpharius!) which you're welcome to pm me or /w me for an invite to.  

Dark Angels Review: Command Squad

The command squad does not occupy a force organization slot, which can be good in larger games; much like techmarines in a DA force.  The question is really how to select their equipment. But to do that, we need to think about what their role will be.

The principle difference between a command squad member and a regular trooper is the extra attack.  Hence, this is begging to be set-up for close combat, preferably escorted by a HQ choice for fearless, etc.  In concert with something like a drop-pod, they can also get there pretty fast.

Alternatively, we could go down a more shooty route, albeit it close range though plasma pistols (etc.).

Or perhaps form an advanced placement through a drop pod and locator beacon.

I actually like the Death Wing and Raven Wing command squads a little better.  But nonetheless, let's have a look at a few possibilities:

Command Squad, Standard of Devastation, Apothecary, Razorback with twin linked assault cannon, extra armour (265 points)
The point of this unit is to take the standard of devastation and place it inside a transport, thereby ensuring it (hopefully) lives longer.  Swap out for a land raider to be sure!

Command Squad, Dark Angels Chapter Banner, 1 Company Champion, 4 Thunder Hammers (280 points)
Lots of attacks! Add in some storm shields to give terminators a run for their money?  Perhaps not though: I think terminators do this build better given their 2+ armour save!

Command Squad, each member replaces chainsword with melta gun and bolt pistol with flamer.  Drop pod with locator beacon and deathwind missile launcher (235 points)
Is this build even legal?  I've read and re-read the wording of the entry and I think it is.  This drop pod is there to shoot down everything and provide a smooth landing for other deep strikers later in the game.  But oh my ... all those meltas and flamers.  Feel free to go pure melta or pure flamer for extra concentrated anti mech or anti horde.  They're assault weapons either way.

Command Squad, Standard of Fortitude, 5 plasma pistols, 5 storm shields, drop pod (370 points)
I think I'm getting carried away at this point.  This build would need serious support to make the most of the standard of fortitude.  So perhaps this is one for Apocalypse points levels only.