Dark Angels Codex Dark Angels

I have played "Greenwing" Dark Angels for the past two years or so, and have generally shunned my chapter's out-of-date codex in favor of the standard Space Marines book. Lately I've been using a Vulkan based list, and I will stand by my earlier assertion that for a number of reasons Vulkan is the best HQ in the game, and as a result of what he does, that type of list is one of the most versatile.

There's a problem though: I don't really like it anymore.

I'm kind of bored with marines, but more than that I really want to play Dark Angels. Real Dark Angels. Dark Angels codex Dark Angels.

I've tried this a few times, but in the end it turns out that the same, or a similar list, works better with the Space Marines codex. This trial and error, however has led me to a list that takes advantages of some of the remaining strengths in the codex, while avoiding its (greater number of) weaknesses.

At 2000 points it reads something like this:

HQ

• Azrael
• Interrogator Chaplain (power armor, combi-flamer)
• Command Squad
• Apothecary (meltagun)
• Champion (power weapon, bolt pistol)
• Standard Bearer (meltagun)
• Marine (power weapon, plasma pistol)
• Marine (power fist, plasma pistol)
• Rhino (extra armor)

Elite

• Dreadnaught (plasma cannon)

Troops

• 2x Tactical Squad
• Sergeant (powerfist)
• 9x Marines (7x bolter, flamer, plasma cannon)
• Rhino (extra armor)
• Tactical Squad
• Sergeant (powerfist)
• 9x Marines (7x bolter, meltagun, multi-melta)
• Rhino (extra armor)

Fast

• 3x Landspeeder Typhoon (typhoon missile launcher, mult-melta)

Heavy

• 2x Predator (twin linked lascannon turret, heavy bolter sponsons)

A similar list, built with the Space Marines codex, using Cato Sicarius and Chaplain Cassius as HQs costs almost the same; the command squad is more expensive, but some other stuff is less so.

Here's why I like the Dark Angels variant: 

HQs: I love Azrael. He is a fucking badass, and I don't care at all that he has WS 5 instead of the standard marine captain/chapter master 6. He's eternal warrior, four wounds, gives the entire squad a 4+ invulnerable save, and has seven S 6 attacks on the charge (4 base, +1 for additional close  combat weapon since is sword is not actually a relic blade, +1 for charge, and +1 for the chapter banner). The Interrogator-Chaplain is three wounds, three attacks, and I 5; a first rate secondary HQ who provides re-rolls to hit when charging.

Command Squad: Two power weapons, one power fist, two plasma pistols, two melta guns, chapter banner, and feel no pain. 

Dark Angels: It is a genuine Dark Angels list.

Grey Knights as an all-comers army

I've been trying lately to build a Grey Knights list that's really representative of the theme of the army. I've also been reading some of the tips in the codex from the game designers and I'm really impressed with how well the army plays when it's built with their intentions in mind. I'm not trying to make it out like I have a hard time enjoying games because my codex is underpowered or anything like like that, but I think the GK codex is much more balanced and well thought out than it gets credit for.

Often times when perusing internet forums the Grey Knights lists that I come across seem to just pick the best unit (or group of units) out of the codex and take as many times as one can fit into the allotted points. This is really unfortunate for all codices not just Grey Knights, because it doesn't show what the army is capable of and it's also a chore to play against. I like the "Psyflemen" Dreadnought as much as the next guy, I mean come on, it's tough to stop with the psychic pilot and it's great at opening up transports but why take 6 of them? There are a ton of equally powerful units that don't have the stink of douche on them. Anyway on to my list.

This is meant to be my flexible all-comers style list at 1850 (and maybe later trimmed down to 1750) points. I'm using Draigo for my HQ because, simply, he's awesome. I used a Librarian for my HQ almost exclusively since the release of the codex so I really want to try out using an elite spearhead unit, what better way to do that than to put Draigo in a Stormraven with an entourage of Paladins. They get in fast and try to wreck house, then hold an objective. If the Stormraven doesn't get blown up, great, it can fly away and be a gunship for the rest of the game. I like to run it with the multi-melta and assault cannons so it's brutal at 24 inches and can take advantage of machine spirit with the melta to wreck vehicles. To fill out my troops I take two 6 man Strike squads in Psybolt Razorbacks, I give the Justicars hammers and take a psycannon. These guys are surprisingly good and I often find my opponents not taking them as seriously as perhaps they should.

Now that I have three troops choices with some decent shooting I wanted to try using some of the other infantry units. I've got a squad of 7 Interceptors with psycannon and psybolt ammo and the Justicar has a hammer. I like to use these guys as really dangerous harassing unit. I'm still getting used to how best to play jump infantry but so far I've really liked having them around. They're shunt move can be game changing and they're great to move around behind cover and use they're potent shooting. I wanted to play with Purifiers too, but more as a small slice of the there tough-as-nails order. I put 5 of them into a rhino and use their FREE incinerator upgrade on two models I give the Knight of the Flame a Halberd as well as one of the other troops, and the last guy gets a hammer. This gives me an opportunity to play with wound allocation shenanigans but primarily these guys are a suicide unit who are going to drive up and flame then assault greater numbers. They're just really fun to use and often times feel like a wild card. The incinerator is awesome but under-used due to it's more well rounded cousin, the psycannon being so cheap, nonetheless it's a nice change of pace and great to have on hand for when I have to play against Orks or Tyranids.

Finally I've got the Dreadnoughts, ugh, I know. I only take 2 and think any more would be misallocating points and losing important boots on the ground. They're the new Longfangs in terms of the unanimous internet hate but it's hard to argue with their quality and quantity of fire. To be fair these Dreads are a good combo in the Standard Marine Codex too, they just get a huge boost in the GK book with Fortitude and Strength 8 Autocannons.

So now I just need to learn how to use these unit in unison to achieve greater potential than any one of them has on it's own. I'm confident that with practice this will be a good list, fit for a tournament, and now it feels like the swiss army knife, elite marine army that it's supposed to be.

On to my latest hobby progress: The Stormraven Gunship...

This is pre paint and post magnetizing. I used a lot of magnets to make it flexible for the long haul since I only want to have to have on of these.


Here are a few shots immediately following the basic paint job. The highlights will be a little more toned down once it gets a dose of Testors Dullcote.




Finally here are some bits on their own. I left the glass out of the cockpit and turret until all the painting is done.


I've got lots left on my desk so I'd better get painting.

Shifting feelings about Apocalypse games

For the first several years of playing 40k I have belittled Apocalypse games. I thought they were a mess, unbalanced (with the addition of super heavies), and denied the players any ability to apply tactics to the game.

I have more recently changed my view. Partly due to a reconsideration of what's fun and partly due to having played in a very well organized game. n.b. this is written and photographed from the DE player's perspective so take with a grain of salt :)

While there were two superheavies on the board, a warhound titan and squiggoth, they didn't drastically alter the game and both were damaged with squiggoth actually being eliminated. Granted better looking models would be nice... However, my partner in the game that fielded the toy robot counts as titan is actually purchasing a titan so that will change.

The strategic assets also added a nice variation to the tactics of the game. On the Chaos/Xenos side the Dark Eldar chose the 36" psychic blocking one which ruined my crafty null zone libby plan for his flicker fields, the Chaos player threw up a wall of smoke in the first turn that allowed the Orks to march up the field in the first turn without being shot at, and the Ork player chose the vital objectives asset which made the pivotal battle at the end so important.

For the imperial players we also chose the vital objectives asset and even designated the same one as the other team. We also chose orbital bombardment which killed off the squad of three ravagers that would of finished off the titan and flank march which forced our opponents to split their forces and let me remove the orks from the vital objective which ended up winning us the game.

Finally, as I mentioned earlier the game was exceedingly well run. Action was fast and furious and play never got bogged down. I'm going to play again next week and will see about grabbing a camera and writing up a proper battle report.

Iron Hands Terminator Librarian

Just a few work in progress photos of my terminator librarian (with storm shield).  He accompanies my shooty terminator squad and Lysander and acts as their ride using Gate of Infinity.

As you can see he's the first terminator that I've done hard line highlighting on, and I like it.  It will probably cause me to revisit all my older terminators to make them match.  I'll probably go ahead and base him so I can call him done.

The weapon is from the Grey Knights, and the storm shield is from Space Wolves

Attic Wars!

Check out our sister blog Attic Wars 40k for some great pics of our group gettin' it on, Attic style.

Battleground Doubles, and Players Choice

Mark and I played three great games this weekend in a doubles tournament at the Battleground Games in Plainville. We went in with a plan, played well, and ended up winning the Players Choice award, which I believe is a combination of overall sexiness, coolness, and wicked awesomeness.

The tournament used the Adepticon missions, and army construction rules, with each team (or Coalition) comprising a pair of 1250 armies. I used a Deathwing list made up of Belial, an upgraded terminator squad with an apothecary, three standard terminator squads, and a pair of melta/typhoon landspeeders. Belial and the terminators all had the standard thunderhammer/storm shield load out, and there was a cyclone missile in each squad. Mark ran Grey Knights; a librarian, a 10-man terminator squad, a five man terminator squad, a five man strike squad, and a pair of psy-bolt rifleman dreads (I don't know all the details of his list of the top of my head, maybe he can fill them in later).

The plan was simple: line up the Deathwing, give the Grey Knights cover, march forward, and kill everything in sight. Speeders and dreads provide cover.  In general it worked.

Game one vs. Necrons and Space Wolves was going our way, the primary objective was having as many victory points within six inches of the table center. Near the end game however, things took a dramatic turn when Mark's libby and 10-man squad, still at nearly full strength, lost an assault against a C'tan shard, and due to a bad leadership check, and fell back. They could not regroup the next turn because of a single Thunderwolf Cav locked in combat with a strike squad near the table edge, and as a result we lost.

There's not much we could have done to prevent such an outcome, other than roll better. Deploying the big squad as two five-man combat squads may have helped, but it also makes each one more subject to falling back from shooting losses.

Game two was thematically one of the best I've played: Deathwing and Grey Knights Vs. Fallen Dark Angels and Chaos Marines. It really couldn't have been more perfect. The game itself did not go well for our opponents though; the Dark Angels were Samael (in a speeder) led Ravenwing, and the Chaos Marines were mostly Khorne Berzerkers in rhinos with a lash wielding Demon Prince, and a few obliterators. With all of the missiles and strength 8 shooting we had, the bikes fell quickly, followed shortly by the demon prince. We shot up all the vehicles we could see, and the Berzerkers didn't last long out of assault range. Our opponents had some bad dice, and our lists were an unfortunate foil for theirs, but they were good sports and it was still a fun game (more so for us than them).

The final game was against Necrons and Eldar in a mission focused on eliminating one army in the enemy's Coalition--they chose Deathwing, we chose Eldar. It used spearhead deployment, and there was an objective in the center of each unused table quarter. Their Coalition was essentially a "difficult and dangerous terrain" build, with Nightspinners, Imhotek, and some Necron terrain modifying shenanigans. Things looked grim in the beginning, but once we were able to batter our way through, and around, the Necron horde, we were able to start killing the cowardly eldar, hiding near the shadowed fringe of the table. By then end of turn five, the last turn of the game, the Eldar were mostly in retreat, a number of Necron warriors were left since they had been largely ignored, but they were unable to claim the objective near our deployment area due to a last turn speeder steal. We ended up tying on primary, secondary, and tertiary objectives, and loosing (I think) on a tie breaker. It was about as close as they come.

Overall we probably finished in the upper part of the middle of the crowd, which is acceptable considering the fact that we did not read the missions ahead of time, or play a single practice game. Winning the Players Choice was a welcome surprise at the end of the day, earning us a total of $160 in store credit, of which my portion quickly disappeared on some finecast fire dragons, and Incubi. Mark wisely bought some new dice (for use on leadership/morale tests), and I'm going to advise him to throw out his old ones before their garbage luck can rub off on the new.

All in all, a great time. I look forward to the next event.

Iron Hands - more from Shapeways

This is how I envision my terminators...

Just thought I'd open with an awesome picture which is rumored to be the cover of an upcoming Black Library book.  I can't wait.

Handy (with a touch of Badab Black so you can see it)

I recently pruchased more bits from Shapeways.  This time I got some cool shoulder pads from a designer who goes by Dynath.  Totally awesome.

Thirty of them...this is going to take a while

I also got this guy...once he's built I'll run him as a Master of the Forge with conversion beamer on a bike.  

It's like Warhammer 80,000!

One of my terminators is finally getting a chain fist...

Painting in progress

Finally, I made a counts-as Lysander and used him in a game last week.  Lysander crushed a dreadnought (big surprise, right?)

Lysander!

Plasticard Iron Hands Stormshield

Now I need to do some painting.