Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Dark Angels(7E)

This page is in need of cleanup. Srsly. It's a fucking mess.

This is the 7th Edition's tactics. The previous Edition's tactics are here.

Why Play Dark Angels?

Do you like to shoot enemies dead and keep shooting the ones dumb enough to assault you? You hate the traitorous heretical scum, like really really hate? Great, you're in the right place HERETICS-BATTLE-BROTHERS!-HERETIC BATTLE-BROTHERS-LOYALIST BATTLE-BROTHERS! We are to shooting what Blood Angels are to assault and Space Wolves are to ... well, wolves! Because you want to field an entire army of Terminators (harder to do now) without being teased about being a powergamer or a furry, or entire army of Bikers (with re-rollable jinks now). The 7th Edition update boosted both Ravenwing and Deathwing builds (bracketed Toughness values are now actual and Power Swords are AP3), meaning that your Ravenwing Bikers are no longer vulnerable to Krak Missile Instant Death and your Deathwing Terminators are now even scarier to that squad of Howling Banshees. Oh, and you have the last Jetbike in the Imperium. Did we mention it comes with a Plasma Cannon? Bitches love Plasma Cannons. How about a flyer that thinks he's a Vindicator? We got one of those!

In a nutshell:

• You want a flyer with a S10 AP2 Vortex-causing cannon on it's nose with a re-rollable jink save! Now that's sexy!
• You want to use awesome models, damn we have the best looking EVERYTHING (bikers, land speeders, flyers, veterans, color scheme).
• You're a Terminator lover. You can go ALMOST all Terminator in a Battle Forged army (you need at least one Ven Dread in a drop pod, and be using the Deathwing Strike Force detachment, better yet take lots of bikes and landspeeders with meltas, re-rollable jink saves and teleport homers).
• You like the idea of wearing robes over your power armor.
• You wish to laugh at morale checks.
• You want to overwatch at BS2 (normal) or BS4 (Lion's Blade)!
• You like plasma (Seriously, there's plasma in anything and everything).
• Speed is your need, and Dark Angels are the best marine army for players who wants to use bikes in support of your army. You aren't just the rivals to White Scars, you're better with this new edition's buffs:

1. Ravenwing can still outflank without the need to add a special character,
2. 7th Ed Jink saves now cause the rider to snap-fire, so having whole armies of Skilled Riders is no longer as epic as it used to be. If you really want cover saves take Dark Shrouds.
3. You re-roll your failed jink saves. This statistically kicks more ass than Skilled Rider alone, and Black Knights have Skilled Rider too.
4. Ravenwing work better with others by having Teleport Homers and some rules interactions with Deathwing, while their own formations radically support each other in a manner that any Tau player would feel familiar with.
5. Black Knights are the best bikers in the game.
6. Sammael beats Khan, whether he's on Corvex or inside Sableclaw.

• Codex Marines now cost (more or less) the exact same points as Dark Angels do. So you have to decide if you want to have better flyers and a bigger choice of combinations for your army or a bunch of terminators, fancy bikes, and bonuses against Chaos Marines.
• Newfags: Just picked up Dark Vengeance? Welcome to the next step in GW's long-term upsell scheme.
• You are to codex chaos space marine as Grey Knights are to Daemons, with Hatred (Chaos Space Marines) conferred onto each of your units with the Deathwing rule and some vehicles. Heldrake spam? Meet the new Nephilim Jetfighter. Some of your weapons even have special bonuses against the fallen TRAITOR MARINES
• With Allied Detachments, DA would make a nice ally army to anyone that needs a strong beatstick to defend themselves from CQC, or to help drive around the board/camping behind cover by sending a lot of dakka to make a tough shooty army.

On the downside:

• Your aerial game is subpar (forget transport and dogfights, our flyers are for infantry slaughter). Way better than what 6th Edition Codex gave you, but it still pales in comparison to sturdy transport fliers, while Forgeworld does have units that can fix this (Caestus Assault Ram, Storm Eagle), it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

What did 7th Edition bring for the Sons of the Lion?

Overall, a solid Codex. Much better than the one 6th Edition left us. Mind you, your units still require lots of synergy to win victory, but it hasn't been this easy in a long time. The loss of some old strategies will sting (No more Banner of Devastation Gunlines and the new controversial Smite Mode means Hammernators might finally see tactical use (no, they won't because maces aren't unwieldy), but there's now loads of new abilities and combinations (BS2 Overwatch? Re-rollable jink saves for bikes/landspeeders/flyers? Full BS overwatch in the Lion's Blade Detachment? Landspeeders firing overwatch on behalf of nearby bikes? Oh my...).

Pros:

• Our Scouts and Dreadnoughts have improved stats (try not to laugh too hard against Blood Angels players).
• Like the Space Wolves and Blood Angels, we get access to a brand new exclusive psychic discipline: Interromancy. Essentially, the Dark Angels Librarians fuck with enemy Leadership and have the potential to cripple enemy statlines like nobody else can.
• General equipment, point costs, and wargear are tweaked to exactly match Codex Marine gear. We get Grav-weaponry, and our Librarians and other units become the exact same points as our Vanilla brethren.
• Grim Resolve, base, now grants Overwatch at BS2. But wait, there's more! The main Decurion-style formation grants Overwatch at FULL BS to the whole detachment. Angelic Dakka!
• Our Fliers will actually be useful. The Dark Talon itself got buffed into the stratosphere, and the Nephilim is now a competent Gunship. The formation for them is pretty damn good too.
• New Decurion-style FOCs for Deathwing and Ravenwing, following the Codex Marines, Eldar, and Necron patterns.
  • We get 3 unique detachments- that's more than any other army so far!(apart from the Eldar of course)
• Model-wise, we finally get a fucking Interrogator-Chaplain model... and it looks glorious! We'll never get a robed Terminator model, since the Codex pictures show the basic Terminator Chaplain is an IC, standard chaplains don't get Terminator Armor, remember?
• Deathwing (formerly known as Inner Circle) now confers Hatred (Chaos Space Marines) instead of Preferred Enemy (CSM), which can go both ways. Now all your Deathwing characters are stand-in Chaplains when facing Chaos Space Marines. Problem is, shooting is no longer affected. Your melee prowess makes up for it.
• Ravenwing units now re-roll failed Cover Saves when jinking. 2+ jink, re-rollable with Dark Shroud? Keep away from Tau and gun for Imperial Guard Senior Officers at all times.
• Speaking of the Darkshroud, it confers Fear also, and if you begin your charge while you're in the Stealth bubble, your target cannot Overwatch. Better keep that Dark Shroud well-protected from Imperial Guard and Tau.
• The Darkshroud's twin, the Landspeeder Vengeance, now has 3 Hull Points and a slightly longer-ranged Plasma Storm Battery along with a 20 point decrease.
• Deathwing Knights are now debatably better. They are naturally AP3, so MEQs now get blended instead of holding you up forever while your other units get shot to shit, and Smiting is now S8 AP2, and you can continuously do it for the high cost of sacrificing all but 1 of your attacks (per model).
• Assorted little buffs include Foe-Smiter gaining Shred, Shroud of Heroes getting a 40 point cost reduction, and Warlord Trait "the Hunt" turning from stupidly useless to sorta decent I guess.

Same Shit, Different Day:

• Warlord Traits remain mostly the same with a few tweaks. The Hunt doesn't suck total ass now (in fact it has nothing to do with your opponent's Warlord) but otherwise no huge buffs.
• Azrael did not in fact receive a special snowflake buff. He's still vulnerable to S8+, and is only AP3 in close combat. You can still take him in a blob of Guardsmen for 4++ and FnP within 3" of an objective. His regular FnP has been boosted to 5+ (up from 6+) and gained +1 to Seize the Initiative, and like the rest of Deathwing he traded Preferred Enemy for Hatred. Compare to the melee monstrosities the other Marine 'dexes got and cry. At least you shred MEQ for days (he can almost kill Kharn in a single turn). Lion's Wrath lost Blind, but nobody really seems to get hit by that anyway. At least they didn't put him on a stupid sled.

Cons:

• Say goodbye to Objective Secured Terminators/Bikers. The new Formations remove some of the edge of this stinging loss, however.
• Another downside: no new units. So no access to Chapter Masters, nor non-Sam Ravenwing HQ, (Share your tears with the Blood Angels, and wonder why the two non-vanilla marine codexs with canon successors don't get a chapter master equivalent to represent the top brass of successors), Sternguard, Vanguard Vets, Stormravens, Stormtalons, Ironclad Dreads, and Centurions in a Battleforged Dark Angels list. You could go for allies, though.
• The Powerfield Generator and the Displacer field are no more. Thankfully Conversion Fields didn't go anywhere, and any HQ in Terminator Armor (sans Librarians and Interrogator-chaplains) can take Storm Shields.
• Goodbye Dakka, Choppa, and Feel no Pain Sacred banners. (And just after we finally got the official transfers for them, it's almost like they changed their mind halfway through writing the codex and didn't bother to amend what they had already done).
• No more Deathwing Vehicle, except on Venerable Dreadnoughts.
• Our Librarius Conclave got hijacked by the Vanilla Marines Codex, and theirs was made better (2+ to cast Warp Charges if 2 or more libbies are close to the chosen 1). Sure we still have the inferior version from the data slate but it will not gain any benefits from this codex making it even weaker than the one given to the Vanilla 'dex (don't we get increased range on Mind Worm, our Primaris?).

Armory of The Lion

Let's face it, the heretics have a nice layout on their tactica; no reason we can't use it and say they got it from us. Other than the fact that they don't exist. So we came up with this layout. With no inspiration from anywhere else.

Ranged Weapons

Actually a valid choice. Your characters do not want to be in close combat, as most duelist HQ's in the game would kill them in challenges, so let's buy some moar dakka. Keep in mind that while your champions aren't going to down other HQs in melee they're easily good enough to bully regular troops that underestimate them... for which you don't really need dedicated melee weapons. Due to weird wording you can take two ranged weapons if you want, which you really shouldn't, unless it's two combi-weapons for a non-veteran dakkasarge or maybe twin pistols if you like the cowboy look.

• Bolter - Business as usual, you know what it does. The loss of the Standard of Devastation is sad and shall be mourned.
• Storm Bolter - It's only 5-pts, so why not? Better on an Assault-based character.
• Combi-weapon - Tried and true. One-shot melta, plasma, Grav-gun, or flamer is always handy, if you use them wisely.
• Plasma pistol - The most expensive and the least popular choice. The main reason why is pistol range, which make it useful only to lay some dakka before charge - and on terminator-armored model Combi-plasma do this job better for less points.
• Grav-pistol - As expensive as the Plasma pistol, and as unpopular as it is. Which is kind of a shame because Concussing dudes is hilarious but sadly unlikely.

Melee Weapons

Remember that your named HQs can't take these, and usually have some sort of special melee weapon anyway. Also, the new Codex removed the "one weapon with the following", so now you can Claw/Fist combo for days.

• Chainsword - It's a free extra attack. It has nothing else going for it unless you don't have the points to spare for the options below.
• Power Weapon - Unlike other armies, a power weapon is actually a valid choice - not because its better, but because Dark Angels themselves are worse in assault. With fewer base attacks, the extra swing from a pistol/power weapon often overcomes the other options in this category (would you rather have one AP3/shred attack, or two power axe swings?). When facing Xenos, the Power Maul (S+2 AP4) is better, but against Marines, the Power Sword or Axe are equally good. The Lance is only S+1 AP3 on the charge, then in subsequent rounds is only an AP4 close combat weapon. Quite forgettable.
• Lightning Claws - Not so useful on sergeants due to only one attack base, and not useful on HQ units, because they need something to pierce through 2+ armor to have a chance of winning in challenge. Carefully consider power swords instead, or an axe if you're expecting Terminator Equivalents. Use only if you need to cut up thousands of cultists!
• Power Fist - Not recommended on non-veteran sergeants. Otherwise either this or power axe are obligatory choices for your warlord, as long as you face marines or orks. They continue to make great surprises for overconfident vehicle commanders...
• Eviscerator - A fuck huge Chainsword that Assault Marines can take. S:x2 AP2, Two-handed. Armourbane. This makes the Eviscerator a great can-opener. Does require that you give up both CCW to have, so you are committing to the model having one chainfist style attack.
• Thunder Hammer - You're paying extra 5 points for a stylish power fist. Yes, it has concussive, but with an almighty S8 AP2 hit few things can survive to suffer from concussion. May be good against monstrous creatures, though, but again concussion only starts to kick after the first blow exchange. Most of the time, you'll see these on the special units that have something else going for them (like terminators with storm shields) or not at all.
• Force Weapon - Available to your Librarians for free. Power Weapons with Force essentially. Honestly, grab the Force Sword. The Axe makes you S5 but drops you to I1, and the Staff can only penetrate 4+ saves or worse.
• Relic Blade - S+2, AP3, Two-Handed, but only accessible by Company Masters both in and out of Terminator Armour. Provides your captain an additional tactical option against MEQs or Monstrous Creatures that doesn't require you to strike last. More useful/reliable than the Monster Slayer sword.
• Blade of Caliban - A Dark Angels-flavored Relic Blade. S+1 AP3 and no longer Unwieldy. Canny Wolf players may notice that these are now the same as Frost Blades now.
• Halberd of Caliban - Exclusive to the Deathwing Champion, it is two-handed S+2 AP2 melee weapon to give him a shot in melee, especially now he is required to issue and accept challenges. Great because it's one of the few AP2 weapons that strike in initiative order, and will make mincemeat out of most enemy non-special character champions.

Relics of Caliban

• Shroud of Heroes - Got a huge price drop down to 10 points! Gives the wearer FnP and, if they're not in a squad, Shrouded. At 10 points for FNP, it's now a bargain. Hilariously troll worthy on a level 1 Interromancy Libby on a bike going solo. Use mind worm on your opponent's special snowflake character or monstrous creature, then drive around the board laughing as they throw retarded amounts of firepower towards your 2+ jinking (no re-rolls since according to GW customer support, taking a bike will not confer the Ravenwing rule on your IC) psyker and he just refuses to die. Unless you're fighting Tau, of course, in which case you just gave up first blood.
• Foe-smiter - S4 AP4 Assault 4 Shred, Master-crafted storm bolter. Three times the cost of a Storm Bolter, but rightfully so.
• Lion's Roar - Master-crafted Combi-bolter with combi-part being assault plasma cannon. Yeah that's right,a mother-fucking master-crafted assault 1 one-use plasma cannon of rape.
• Mace of Redemption - One of the greatest weapons forged by the Dark Angels. +3 STR and AP3 (AP1 against the CSM faction). It also inflicts blind and concussion. The same cost as a Thunder Hammer, and against most things other than Termie wearing Loyalists and the odd HQ choice here and there it is a superior choice. Excellent on an Interrogator-Chaplain and his buff against Chaos Space Marines.
• Monster Slayer of Caliban - A power sword that grows stronger in the hands of a pure-hearted wielder, or randomly in game terms. Each fight sub-phase you roll a D6. On a 1 it's still just a power sword. On a 2-4 it adds 1 to the wielder's strength. On a 5-6 it adds 2 to the wielder's strength and causes instant death. The weapon's biggest weakness is that none of its random rolls will let it overcome anything it couldn't already deal with (like terminator armor) and only has a 33% chance of being remotely decent. Take a Relic Blade over this overcosted garbage.
• The Eye of the Unseen - Grants Fear and Preferred Enemy to the bearer. The most expensive Relic, but since Preferred Enemy is conferred onto squads if one model has it, put him in a plasma-equipped command/veteran squad and see the difference it makes. Fear is meh as always, but you can really force it to happen if you bring along an Interromancy librarian in your force. Don't forget that PE also applies to your already boosted overwatch attacks.
• Perfidious Relic of the Unforgiven - All Deathwing terminator/Knight units can now take one of these, so expect them to become more common, it's a pretty cheap upgrade that gives you Fear (meaning the codex got a fear overload) AND Adamantium Will. If you play people who go psyker-heavy *cough*Grey Knights*cough* you get an extra +1 to your deny the witch rolls. Combine with a Librarian, and watch the Psychic Hood stack with this for a 4+ Deny on your opponent.

Banners and Standards

• Company Standard - Friendly Dark Angels within 12" of the bearer can re-roll failed morale checks and pinning tests.
• Dark Angels Chapter Banner - Got a big points decrease in the new codex; provides all Dark Angels models in the unit with +1A. Also provides the normal standard Ld rerolls. Stack with Ezekiel's Book of Salvation and/or Righteous Repugnance for extra hilarity.
• Ravenwing Company Banner - Friendly models with the Ravenwing special rule within 12" of this banner automatically pass their Hit & Run checks and can move an extra D6 with Hit & Run.
• Deathwing Company Banner - Almost exactly like the Chapter Banner: Friendly models with the Deathwing special rule in the unit gain +1A, the difference in wording means that Sammael and regular Chaplains are the only guys who don't benefit. It also got a huge points decrease, only 20 points to give a squad of terminators more attacks.
• Sacred Standard - Now all Sacred Standards have been condensed into 1 form, no more 4-shot Boltguns (boo). In addition to re-rolling all failed Morale, Pinning, and Fear checks, you now get Counter-Attack and Relentless on your Command Squad. Total fucking bullshit, the older individual Sacred Standards were way better, but at least it is a cheaper option and can be spammed now, rather than being a one-only deal.

Special Issue Wargear

• Auspex: It's a scanner array thingamahjig that allows the user to lower one enemy unit's cover save by one (also, it can be a different enemy unit than that rest of the unit shoots at). For 5 points, this sounds nice, recommended to give to a Techmarine (who won't be shooting much anyway), a Chaplain (1 Bolt Pistol shot. Whoop-dee-doo), or a Librarian (because with Witchfires and such, his damage output won't exactly be hindered).

• Combat Shield - As of this edition and last, 6+ invuln. It's cheap and better than nothing, but many HQs have much better invuln saves anyway (Rosarius and Iron Halos) and those who don't have base invulns can take Terminator Armor and/or the Conversion Field below.

• Meltabombs: They're meltabombs. You know them, you love them. Dark Angels don't have many dedicated assault units that would benefit from taking them, so only take them if you have points to spare and think you might get close enough to an enemy vehicle.

• Digital Weapons: - Re-roll 1 failed to wound roll, as before. Useful with getting that lucky Force/Power Fist Strike on a target.

• Conversion Field: A neat little piece of gear that gives a 4+ invulnerable save... for 20 points. In addition to that awesomeness, whenever the bearer passes an Invulnerable save, all units within D6" (friend or foe) basically get Blind (and friendly units can reroll the Initiative test for it). This won't activate all that often (you have Power or Terminator Armour, after all), but when it will, it's a bit of a crapshoot whether you'll take the brunt or your opponent. Still, even if you get messed up... it's a fairly cheap 4+ Invulnerable save!
  • If you want to vent your frustrations at the Newcrons, take this thing out. Enjoy watching yourself tank the hits while they have a 2/3 chance of becoming WS/BS1.

• Jump pack - Changes model to Jump Infantry (Move 12" instead of 6", gains Deep Strike, and can opt to not use the 12" movement to gain Hammer of Wrath when charging, as before.)

The following aren't technically listed as Special Issue Wargear, but can be taken by certain units.

• Artificer Armour - 2+ Armor Save. Only available to the Company Master. Not a bad buy, since it allows you to take most transports, and you either have an Iron Halo or a Storm Shield anyway so your Invuln save is covered.
• Terminator Armour - 2+/5++, and grants the Deep Strike and Relentless rules. However, you cannot attempt Sweeping Advances and are made bulky. Buying this also grants the Vengeful Strike special rule, allowing the character to twin-link his shooting the turn he arrives from Deep Strike.
• Space Marine Bike - Grants +1 Toughness, 12" of movement with option to turbo-boost 12" more, the ability to Jink, the Relentless rule, and brings a Twin-Linked Boltgun. Nice if you're pairing up with Ravenwing Bikes or Black Knights. Not available to Company Masters, also note that it still doesn't make the rider Ravenwing so he doesn't reroll his jink saves, but the good news is the upcoming FAQ will allow a character on a bike to lead a Ravenwing Strike Force.
• Storm Shield - 3+ Invulnerable Save, but replaces one of your weapons. May be taken by Company Masters both in or out of Terminator Armour. Since it's specifically listed in the options and its wording is for Power Weapons, Librarians and Chaplains cannot take these. You'll also find them dispersed amongst Company Veteran and Deathwing squads.

Special Rules

• Deathwing Assault (Deathwing Redemption Force) - All models in the formation must start in Deep Strike Reserve, so no Land Raider transports. Your whole formation chooses to arrive from deep strike on either turn two, three, or four. You decide before the game begins. Since this is now a formation special rule, rather than a squad rule, ALL units in the formation have to deep strike at the same time, including Venerable Dreadnoughts in drop pods.

• Summoned to War (Deathwing Strike Force) - All units in this formation start in Deep Strike Reserve, but if there is a Ravenwing Attack Squadron, or a Ravenwing Strike Force detachment in your army then they can choose to pass/fail their reserve rolls. Unlike Deathwing Assault this doesn't overrule Drop Pod Assault, since the first Drop Pods don't take reserve rolls and show up automatically.
  • In you have no Ravenwing at all, then this rule doesn't do anything other than force you to Deep Strike, where normal rules apply.

• Fortress of Shields - Any model in this unit is equipped with a Storm Shield, including independent character models with a shield, and is in base-to-base contact with two other models from this unit, gains a +1 increase to their toughness. The new wording prevents you from bunching up regular termie squads to increase the benefit of the rule, and also means that unless your independent character has a shield himself, he cannot benefit either. This also have the side effect of keeping you from spacing your terminator knights effectively, but this isn't actually as much of a problem as it might at first appear. If you expect plasma cannons, Meltas and other high-strength low AP shooting, a 3+ Invulnerable will mean you tank it, so scratch that. If you're fighting imperial guard lasgun hordes, bunch up and watch their pathetic S3 guns fail to wound five times out of six, and watch Tau Fire Warriors hit and wound on 4s.

• Grim Resolve - Dark Angels' Chapter Tactics part 1. Grants Stubborn, and Overwatch at BS2 unless they jinked.

• Deathwing - Renamed from Inner Circle. Dark Angels' Chapter Tactics part 2. Grants Fearless and Hatred (Chaos Space Marines).

• Ravenwing - Dark Angels' Chapter Tactics part 3. Re-roll failed Cover Saves when jinking. Do note that you must always use your lowest armour save (brb P8), even if a 3+ will be less useful than a 4++ rerollable one. This means that standard ravenwing motorists will not benefit so much from this rule unless they are near a Darkshroud, and they will resist more against AP 3 or better weapons than against worse weapons. Black Knights and Land Speeders, on the other hand, are much tougher now.

Warlord Traits

1. The Hunt: Warlord has Precision Shots and Ignores Cover. Belial and Asmodai get this.
2. Courage of the First Legion: The Warlord and all Dark Angel units within 12" of the Warlord gain Fearless. Ezekiel gets this.
3. For the Lion: Warlord and unit has Furious Charge.
4. Brilliant Planning: While Warlord is on battlefield his force may modify Reserve Rolls by 1.
5. Rapid Maneuver: Warlord and unit add 3" to Flat-Out, Turbo-boost, Run and Charge Moves. Sammael in both forms gets this.
6. Hold At All Costs: Warlord and unit has Feel No Pain within 3" of an Objective.

Interromancy Psychic Powers

In a strike of curiosity (but not an unexpected one considering the Harlequins' Phantasmancy), the Dark Angels got an entire discipline based upon a previously-exclusive power (Mind Worm in this case). It works heavily upon messing with leadership and stat lines.

• Primaris - Mind Worm - WC1 focussed witch fire, 12" S6 AP2 Assault 1, Ignores Cover; if a model takes an unsaved wound then it takes -3 to BS, WS, I AND Ld for the rest of the game. With even just 1 wound, that special snowflake or Monstrous creature just became an expensive paperweight and now that it has been buffed to Strength 6 it is a much more credible threat against those tougher models where the debuff will really sting. Even though our Librarius is shit compared to the new Vanilla Librarius, this power goes up to 24" with it. Yeah. You're still thinking about taking it.

1. Seed of Fear WC1. All enemy units within 9" make all Fear, Pinning, and Morale tests on 3D6. Note that this does not force those checks, you still have to do that normally.
2. Righteous Repugnance - WC1. Blessing that grants one unit within 24" Rage. Cast on those Deathwing Knights or Assault Marines and enjoy the maximum carnage. Drop it on Black Knights and watch them redefine massacre.
3. Aversion - WC1. Malediction affecting one enemy unit within 24". They may only fire Snap Shots. One WC to basically nullify a units shooting? Yes please.
4. Maelstrom of Misery - WC2. Witchfire, 24": S1 AP2, Assault 1, Blast, Neural Shock (Always wounds on 4+).
5. Trephination - WC2. Focused Witchfire with 18" range: the affected model rolls 2d6+2 then subtracts the leadership value, taking the difference in wounds with no armour or cover saves allowed. Psychic Shriek, Fuck that guy edition. Combo'd with Mind Worm wounding first, it'll absolutely destroy characters.
6. Mind Wipe - WC3. Malediction with 24" range. The target unit is reduced to WS/BS 1 until end of their next turn. THEN they have to take a Ld test, which if failed makes the debuff permanent. Cast on a Deathstar unit. Just 1 turn of WS/BS1 can mean so much for you and throw That Guy's carefully thought plan off balance, even better if he fails the Ld test. Not to mention that (without factoring in modifiers), on average, an opponent statistically needs 18 Warp Charge dice to deny it should you successfully get it off with only the 3, or 6 statistically.

Fighter Aces (Skip This)

In Skies of Death, you now have a bonus rule allowing you to pay 35 points for one of 3 special traits for any Flyer or FMC (FGC is still debatable). These are basically just a re-hash of the Fighter Ace rules from the Crusade of Fire supplement released a few years earlier. The real issue is that the only dedicated flyers the Dark Angels get are...well, not that great.

1. Hunter of Heretics - +1 BS. The problem is that the Dark Angels (and Forgeworld) flyers have mostly twin-linked weapons and/or Strafing Run already, so this doesn't really add much. Yeah, you might get BS6 but you're still limited by the usefulness of the weapons themselves.
2. Expert Redeployment - Fighter Ace can move in from any edge when coming from Ongoing Reserves. Pretty good way to sneak around and strike them from behind.
3. Homing Beacon - It's a Homing Beacon for flyers. DA within 12" of it can't scatter when they Deep-Strike. Erm... most flyers start the game in reserve without a skyshield landing pad. Since Deathwing can no longer just choose to come on turn 1-2 (although reserve Flyers still come on turn 2 or later), this one could now potentially be useful. It is however just another teleport homer in an army that can get them cheaper on virtually ever Ravenwing unit, and the most expensive and unreliable one there is to boot. Give it a pass.

Tactical Objectives

• Secret Agenda - A curious rule the Dark Angels get for their Tac-Objectives allows them to conceal their dice rolls/Cards when generating cards that have the Dark Angels type as seen above. While it's useless in most cases, when drawing any of these, you get to conceal both the roll AND the Objective you took until you actually finish it. MIND GAMES!

11. Not One Step Backwards

When this Tactical Objective is generated, secretly choose either your next turn, next two turns, or next three turns; score 1, D3, or D3+3 Victory Points respectively if this Tactical Objective is still active at the end of the number of turns you choose. This objective is immediately discarded if any friendly unit fails a Morale Check. If the game ends before this Tactical Objective is achieved, no Victory Points are scored.

12. No Forgiveness

Score 1 Victory Point at the end of your turn if you completely destroyed one or more enemy units that were controlling an Objective Marker at the start of your turn.

13. Let None Escape Your Gaze

Score 1 Victory Point at the end of your turn if you successfully manifested one or more psychic powers from the Interromancy discipline during your turn. Pretty easy to snag.

14. Apprehend and Interrogate

Score 1 Victory Point at the end of your turn if at least one enemy character was slain in a challenge during your turn. If your opponent's Warlord was slain in a challenge during your turn, score D3 Victory Points instead.

15. Flawless Strategy

Score 1 Victory Point at the end of your turn if one or more friendly units with the Deathwing or Ravenwing special rule arrived from Reserve during your turn. If one or more friendly units with the Deathwing special rule used a teleport home to arrive by Deep Strike within 6" of a friendly unit with the Ravenwing special rule during your turn, score D3 Victory Points instead. If you run a DW Strike Force and a Ravenwing army, this is as good as done.

16. The Path of Redemption

Score 1 Victory Point at the end of your turn if, during your turn, a friendly unit with the Dark Angels Faction charged an enemy unit that, at the start if the Charge sub-phase, included more models than their own unit.

Unit Analysis

HQ

• Interrogator-Chaplain - Same profile as a Company Master with -1 WS, but comes with Zealot and so is therefore better in the first round of combat and also acts as a close combat multiplier. Also causes Fear, and has a natural Preferred Enemy against Chaos Space Marines. He has the ability to take Terminator armour, a Bike or a Jump Pack and so can fit with virtually any other squad you want him to. Interestingly, giving him a power fist doesn't replace either his Crozius or bolt pistol, meaning he can bash regular troops with 4 str 6 attacks a turn, and then turn on the power fist when the bigger things turn up. The Interrogator Chaplain is advised.

• Company Master - Same stat-line as the Vanilla Space Marine Captains. If you want a cheap combat HQ, he's your man. Take Artificer Armor, a Shroud of Heroes, a Storm Shield, and a Thunder Hammer for a relatively cheap and effective HQ.

• Chaplain - A general purpose support HQ. Allows himself and his squad re-rolls to hit in the first round of combat, no matter what, and comes with a Rosarius (4++) and a Power Maul. Can ride a Bike or use a Jump Pack, but cannot wear Terminator armour. Still costs as much as a Company Master, but doesn't have any special bonuses against the Chaos Space Marines. There's basically no reason to ever take this guy over his big brother; An Interrogator-Chaplain costs 20 points more for +1 Ballistic Skill, Attacks, Wounds and Initiative, plus has access to Terminator Armor and Relics. If you want cheap, just grab a Librarian.

• Librarian - Tied with the Techmarine for the actual cheapest HQ choice, clocking in at 65pts base, and can be upgraded to ML2 for the same price as Vanilla Librarians (finally). Can use the Divination, Pyromancy, Telepathy, Daemonology, Telekinesis, or Interromancy disciplines making him useful in a broad variety of roles.
  • Notes: Comes equipped with a Psychic Hood. All units within 12" of the psyker can use the psyker for Deny the Witch rolls. Usually improves the result by 1, by 2 if your psyker is level 2 and the opponent's psyker is level 1. If he's inside a transport, he can only attempt to Deny the Witch for the Transport.
  • He's also one of the better candidates for taking a Conversion Field and/or an Auspex since he doesn't have his own invulnerable save off the bat and giving him an auspex doesn't particularly hinder his ability to blast things at range.

• Techmarine - Piggybacking off the Codex Marines, you get a Master of the Forge with a slightly higher pricetag, equal to the Librarian. Still no access to Conversion Beamers, despite the fact that GW has never actually released a kit they would still prefer that Vanilla marines got their imagined model sales. Also, unlike vanilla marines, Dark Angels techmarines do not get access to Chapter Relics. So basically you are taking Techmarines to fix your stuff and nothing else, unless you want your Camo-cloaked Scouts to get a 2+ Cover in Ruins with the Bolster Defences Rule.
  • The Servo Harness is really up to you if you want to take it. Dark Angels techmarines are far less likely (especially on bikes) to be accompanied by Servitors. So on his own the harness becomes viable if you still expect him to fix things. Where Vanilla marines might take techmarines as challenge takers and use the harness to make him more threatening, Dark Angels tend to use them as support character so it's better to keep them out of combat. If you want to go into melee weapon with him, forget taking Power Axes or Thunder Hammers, take a Lightning Claw instead, which negates the need for a servo harness, since his servo-arm is a specialist weapon.
  • Servitors - Who forgot about these? They help the Techmarine repair stuff (add 1 to the Blessings roll for each one that has a servo-arm). That's all you will use them for, because a 10pt Heavy Bolter or Multi-Melta and 20pt Plasma Cannon at BS3 is kinda wasteful, as they will need to be running around with their master repairing stuff. 50pts for a full squad. Stick the whole lot in a Land Raider or Thunderhawk Gunship (you rich testicle-deprived bastard) and laugh as the single gun your enemy's volley of Krak Missiles shot off repairs itself and shoots back. Oh, and don't leave them alone, they will probably Mindlock and stand there soaking up bullets with their faces.

• Space Marine Command Tanks - 400 points nets you two awesome command tanks that the Dark Angels can use due to a designer's note!
  • Rhino Primaris - Gives Dark Angels access to a 7" Blast Orbital Strike, more plasma from its Twin-Linked Plasma Gun instead of Stormbolter, and has a fancy Servo-skull hub which can either grant a friendly unit within 12" Snap-shots (including Overwatch and Skyfire) at full Ballistic Skill (Give that stupidly broken Invisibility power the middle finger), restore a nearby vehicle's hull point on a 2+, or give said Infantry unit Fearless. Also, you can co-ordinate Reinforcements by selecting a unit held in reserves to automatically come on. Can transport 6 models. Battle Brothers may utilize.
  • Land Raider Excelsior - Gives Dark Angels much needed access to Grav-weaponry through its Grav-cannon and Grav amp for those re-rolls to wound and immobilize. Also has a 6+ Invuln and ignores Crew Shaken/Stunned results. Also can grant a single unit in 12" one of a huge selection of special rules for the turn (Counter-Attack, Fearless, Hit & Run, Interceptor, Preferred Enemy, Skyfire, Split Fire, or Tank Hunter), and gets +1 BS if a Rhino Primaris is within 24". Funnily, it's also a character, so it can be your Warlord if you choose. Can transport 10 models, Battle Brothers may utilize.

• Damocles Rhino (Forgeworld) Now 75 pts in IA12 and no longer takes up a HQ slot, so you still have to take another character. (but most expensive in terms of real money), but is still one of your cheapest HQs. Armed with nothing but a storm bolter and a searchlight for defense, with no transport capacity, it may not seem like an obvious choice. BUT, the Damocles true power lies in it's incredible support abilities, it allows a single Orbital bombardment in the same way as a codex chapter master, lets all teleporting units within 12" arrive without scatter and allows the owning player to modify reserve rolls by plus or minus one. This can be useful following a turn one-two Deathwing punch as not all Terminators are forced to used the Deathwing Assault rule, the reserve roll modifier is also handy for flyers, drop pods, outflanking scouts / ravenwing and land speeders, of which Dark Angels will have several. The damocles usefulness does not extend much past this however, and once the reserves have arrived and its bombardment spent theres not much you can do with it.
  • The new Rhino Primaris is MUCH better since even though it's over triple the cost of the Damocles Rhino, it also gets an uber-Land Raider, while both give out insane buffs even after the Orbital Bombardment and Reserve shenanigans are over.
  • However, the Damocles is cheaper and most importantly doesn't take up a HQ slot which has very significant implications, since slotless units can be taken as part of any detachment (this includes formations by definition) and still gain the command benefits of the detachment. So while you can't take a Rhino Primaris + Excelsior in a Lion's Blade, you can take a Damocles instead.

Special Characters

• Master Sammael of the Ravenwing - His statline's identical to a Space Marine Bike Captain's. He pilots the dangles last functioning Jetbike, which just so happens to be loaded with a Plasma Cannon and a Twin-Linked Stormbolter. He also carries a Bolt Pistol for that ever so helpful +1 attack. Notably, he can fire 2 of his weapons in the shooting phase. He swings an AP2 Master-Crafted Power Sword as he rides through the battle, and has Eternal Warrior and an Iron Halo. To replace the loss of Inner Circle (and no, since he's 2nd Company he doesn't get the Deathwing rule) he now just straight up has Fearless and Hatred (Chaos Space Marines), and confers both to his unit. A good, solid choice. How he rolls is up to your playstyle. Also, his jetbike model is one of the sexiest motherfucking models that GW has ever made.
  • Sableclaw - Alternatively, he can take to the field in an AV14 on the front and sides, AV10 in the rear, Land Speeder armed with a Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter and a Twin-Linked Assault Cannon. With that Halo still working, meaning the speeder gets 4++. Also, now Sableclaw can use the Ravensword to dish out D3+1 S4 AP2 Ignores Cover, randomly allocated attacks to a single enemy unit not locked in Close Combat that Sammael moved over in the movement phase. If Sammael moved over a vehicle, it hits the rear armor. He also has Scouts, Skilled Rider, and Hit and Run like the rest of his company. The issue with Sableclaw is that it misses out on many of Sammy's more solid boosts in exchange to immunity to small-arms fire. Note, you cannot include Sammael and Sableclaw in the same army for the obvious reasons, and due to the wording this even circumvents Unbound shenanigans.

• Master Belial of the Deathwing - At first Belial looks like a Company Master in Terminator Armour with the option for either his sword of silence, a Master-Crafted Fleshbane power sword, pair of Lightning Claws, or a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, but looks can be deceiving. Any unit he joins does not scatter when deep striking, so look for combos. Also, Belial gained an extra attack, and re-rolls all failed hits in a Challenge, fitting the fluff of him taking down an Interrogator-Chaplain as an Initiate in less than a minute. Take the Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield loadout if you're gonna face a lot of AP2 weaponry and his iron halo won't hold out. Otherwise, his sword of silence is pretty nasty against most things and if you're taking him, take a DW command squad to keep his ass alive.

• Ezekiel, Grand Master of Librarians - He comes with the same statline of the Librarians of old, with stats comparable to a Company Master -1WS, and is a mastery level 3 psyker who can roll from Divination, Pyromancy, Telepathy, Daemonology, Telekinesis, or Interromancy in any combination. Given his gear, he's a really good choice for a boost to Deathwing knights to make them even more of a nasty unit.
  • Gear: Ezekiel makes use of a master-crafted Force Sword (how useful), a master-crafted Bolt Pistol, which will now get more use since Witchfire no longer hinders shooting, Artificer Armour (2+ armour save), and he carries the Book of Salvation, which gives all friendly units within 6" of him +1 Attack, which is awesome. He also comes equipped with a Psychic Hood, so all units within 6" of Ezekiel can use the him for Deny the Witch rolls. Since Ezekiel is Mastery Level 3, this helps quite a bit. Park him next to some Deathwing Knights with a Perfidious Relic and enjoy 3+ DtW against everyone with ML lower than 3 (which is like 95% of psykers in the game).

• Asmodai, Interrogator Chaplain - Asmodai is back with a welcome buff, albeit perhaps still not an auto-take he at least has enough going to make him distinctive. He still comes loaded with his trademark Blades of Reason. You may scoff at their lack of an AP or strength bonus and its Specialist Weapon status, but they cause Instant Death. And if that's not your thing he still has his Crozus Arcanum. He causes Fear and has Preferred Enemy (CSM), but all Interrogator Chaplains do that now. His latest buff is that he is now WS6 on a captain's stat line, and if he slays the enemy warlord in a challenge you immediately gain D3 victory points, which could be a game changer if he manages to cause a papercut with those blades of reason. Though he'll run into major problems versus Eternal Warriors or anyone geared/statted up to wipe him out and not worry about taking wounds against S4 AP- attacks. Imperial Guard warlords are fair game though.
  • A regular Interrogator Chaplain with the Mace of Redemption has the same basic wargear, and price, but puts out more damage more reliably. An Epistolary Librarian with a Conversion Field, Prescience, and a Force Sword can do roughly the same job as Asmodai while having AP3 to boot, all for less points. And Interrogator Chaplain with Mace of Redemption will cost the same, kick his ass most of the time AND be more generally useful (Instant Death is cool, but not much use against single wound models. S7 and AP3 on the other hand...)

• Interrogator-Chaplain Seraphicus (Dark Vengeance) - According an FAQ, the limited edition Dark Vengeance Chaplain is actually a special character. Instead of re-rolls to hit on the charge, he lets his unit re-roll ones to hit and wound for both shooting and melee. The problem? It only works against Chaos Space Marines. For 125 points, he's the same cost as a regular Interrogator-Chaplain with a plasma pistol (he has one), but you have no reason to waste your points on this guy unless you know for sure that you will be facing CSM.
  • Other Notes: Standard Interrogator-Chaplains already get Preferred Enemy: Chaos Space Marines which does the exact same thing as Serpahicus's special rule, as well as the Deathwing Special rule (Hatred: Chaos Space Marines). Chalk this up to a rushed release and lack of a 7th Edition Dark Angels FAQ, and just use him as a standard Interrogator-Chaplain with Plasma Pistol.

Troops

• Tactical Squad - Now one of two troops choices. No longer outgunned by other marine codices, but they are essentially a shooty army's shooty troops unit: 70 pts. gets you 4 dudes plus a sarge, and 140 pts. gets you the traditional 10 dudes. The dudes are now the same price as Ultramarines, but that's not a bad thing for either of us. If you take them, take a Rhino, rush an objective, camp and watch your opponent try and dig BS2 overwatching spess muhreens out of it. Can now get either a heavy or a special weapon from the beginning, and can take a flakk missile launcher. You are also able to combat squad them, which basically means that you can turn your 10 man squad into two 5 man squads before deployment.

• Scout Squad - Still rocking in the troops slot, they get the same WS/BS buff as the Ultramarines got a couple weeks ago. Long story short: you get what you pay for, and you don't pay much for these guys. 11 points for a model in carapace with a BS4 bolter is actually fairly good as far as medium infantry goes, but upgrading them to snipers tends to be a waste of points. The five man scout sniper squad may look good on paper, but 5 BS4 shots is going to lead to about three hits, which will leave you with about a wound and a half before armor. Since Snipers don't have Pinning, this can be summed up as "useless". Don't bother trying to put the hurt on monstrous creatures with this either, since while you might wound on 4s, MCs generally have enough wounds and good enough armour saves not to care, but you could also give them a Missile Launcher and reliably chip wounds off with Krak rockets. On the plus side, they have Grim Resolve now, so they get those kickass Overwatch boosts.

Elites

• Company Veterans Squad - Imagine Tactical Marines with an extra attack and some individual wargear options. That's pretty much what this unit is. If you somehow forgot while reading through this page, Dark Angels are a shooting army and these guys can take combi-weapons, but don't have the benefit of Sternguard extra bullets, and can take a heavy and a special weapon at 5 guys and an extra special at ten. If you're feeling really mean, tool them up with combi-plasmas, take some plasma guns and then once per game, unleash a shit load of plasma fire over the enemy scum. Useful for most applications. Or you can give everyone Plasma/Grav Pistols instead of Chainswords to make a Cypher Squad for close-range shooting and gain both shots due to the gunslinger rule. This is one advantage Dark Angels vets have over Sternguard but gets expensive fast. Also, unless you are using Greenwing, ignore CC for the most part as your terminators and bikes should be getting into hand-to-hand, not vets, so don't get tempted by that extra base attack (Still, remember it. It might be better to exchange the extra turn of rapid fire shooting so you charge rather then be charged, however any opponent who charges a squad of AP2 weapons at BS2>4 is in for a shock).

• Company Command Squad - You don't even need an HQ choice to take them now. They are very similar to Veteran squads in many respects, they are fixed at five men, and cannot take combat shields except on the champion (which is of dubious worth anyway), nor can they take a heavy weapon. On the plus side, every veteran can take a special weapon rather than just one in five, and they get access to the typical command squad staff. Honestly, these guys aren't that bad if you load them up right. Think of them as Loyalist Chosen and you're not far off, armed to the teeth with a slew of special weapons. Be sure to take a banner, an Apothecary, and a Champion for S5 AP3 attacks, also unlike the Deathwing/Ravenwing equivalents they can take as many of these officers as you have squads, therefore if you were ever thinking of using a small veteran squad, take these guys instead.
  • For 175 points (ie: cheaper than Deathwing) you can get five guys with Meltaguns and a Drop Pod. Codex Marines can do this too, but Dark Angels can drop in, erase enemy vehicles/TEQs and are less fearful of a counter-charge due to better overwatch, and that Drop Pod can summon in other shooty Deathwing/Land Speeder squads with its locator beacon.
  • For a bit more, take 5 grav-guns and a Sacred Standard to get the full number of shots at full range, then have them arrive from a Drop Pod and erase units from existence. Made even deadlier when your opponent considers charging your unit to get a face full of improved grav overwatch and counter attack. Give them storm shields for some decent survivability.

• Deathwing Terminator Squad - This is one of the reasons you play Dark Angels. They received only a minor nerf in since Deathwing Assault is now a formation rule rather than a squad rule and no longer allows them to arrive on turn one. However they got a points decrease and were given the Grim Resolve "chapter tactic" for scary overwatch. They are still Fearless Terminators with Split Fire and the ability to twin-link their weapons the turn they arrive from Deep Strike since Vengeful Strike is now a part of the Terminator Armour for those people who missed it. Any model can trade their basic weapons (including the sergeant again) for Thunder Hammers/Storm Shields and Lightning Claws where they see fit. You can have squads of up to 10 of these guys PLUS you can give 1 in every five termies an assault cannon, a cyclone missile launcher OR a fucking plasma cannon! They are also going to be fucking expensive, which makes giving your tactical and scout squads some room. Either way, Deathwing termies are versatile as all fuck and will either squish shit to dust or they are going to be hard to shift from objectives. Despite the changed they are still pretty much the best Terminators in the game, unless you will look on the right page of the codex or the next entry.
  • Note that split fire doesn't require two different weapons in 7th. A unit of 5 terminators where all have TH/SS and one is additionally upgraded with a cyclone missile launcher is still able to target two units - this doesn't mean they actually fire at two targets, but they are able to charge a different target than they actually fire at. That's cool and all, but remember you cannot Assault the turn you arrive from Reserve.

• Deathwing Command Squad - At it's most basic it is a regular Deathwing squad for the same cost. But you can throw on upgrades like candy and do all the normal things you expect a command squad to do too. It is an incredibly potent squad, and if you ever get given the choice, you should consider it in place of any other kind of Deathwing squad, since they all share Elite slots now. Be warned that Champions and Apothecaries are a "one per Army" deal, so while it might seem attractive to have multiple command squads taking Elite slots, subsequent squads would become pretty much just five-man regular Deathwing squads, unless you choose to spread your specialists through different squads.
  • Sergeants were added in as a free upgrade... But don't even bother. They lose a power fist for a power sword and don't even have the option to replace anything unlike the regular Deathwing squads. If you want a character model to lead the squad and take challenges then have a Champion instead.
  • Deathwing Champions are fantastic, they get +1WS and can take the Halberd of Caliban (+2S, AP2, 2-handed), and now they must auto-issue and auto-accept challenges. They do hilariously well against most other single-wound champions like vanilla Chapter Champions and the like, who are compelled to get into a fight that they will lose.
  • Apothecaries obviously give the squad Feel No Pain and as Terminators they become incredibly hard to budge. But they have to replace their stock power-fist with the Narthecium, and the lack of other options mean they are mostly useless in close combat. As characters they can refuse challenges and be kept out of harms way which does seem like a waste of a terminator, but they still grant FnP to the squad even then. Also remember that the squad has Split-Fire so even if he's got the only other ranged weapon after a Heavy Weapons dude, he can put it to use against a different target.
  • Banner options are limited to either the DW Company Banner or the Sacred Standard, but the go-to option should be the Deathwing Company banner, which as mentioned above gives them +1 attack. This is a close combat squad and also serves to overcome any reduced output from taking an apothecary. The banner bearer can also be given any other option but should probably be given a TH/SS to guard against any unfortunate and expensive mishaps.

• Deathwing Knights - Deathwing Assault Termies, basically. Let's say that Deathwing Terminators just aren't cutting it for you and you want a stiffer, more intractable close combat squad. Say hello to Deathwing Knights: rockin' a WS5, Hammer of Wrath, Precision Strikes, new and improved AP3 Maces of Redemption. The Knight Master gets Fleshbane AP3 too. And the whole squad gets a +1T bonus when all their bases touch, they'll take apart anything in HtH but for 235 pts. for 4 plus a champ and 45 for each one (a bargain), they fucking should! You better not roll ones on assault or Belial will hunt you down and bitch slap you. They also buff any attached IC's with STORM SHIELDS with +1T. They can also take Perfidious Relics to get Adamantium Will; combine with Ezekiel for some high-yield Calibanian witch denial. In all, there is literally no reason not to take Deathwing Knights and throw them in a Spartan Assault Tank or Land Raider Crusader, even if you're taking Ravenwing or Greenwing. Seriously. Their melee prowess is now indisputable.
  • There's only one real problem... Smite Mode kinda sucks now. Sx2 AP2, unlimited use, doesn't sound so bad at first, until you notice you can only make one attack. And they lost Bane of the Traitor too, so that AP3 base is staying AP3 unless you want to Smite. If your opponent has MEQ-heavy stuff, Deathwing Knigts are still your main men, but it might be time to dust off your Thunder Hammers, just in case. They were only ever AP3 even WITH Bane of the Traitor anyway, and that was only against CSM, so they are actually BETTER now because you don't need to smite or be facing Failbadon and his cronies to instagib MEQ. And smite mode is now a lot more versatile because you can do it in a model-by-model basis, so you don't need to only make 1 attack per model if you think it's too risky; also you strike at FULL INITIATIVE, which is absolutely RAPETASTIC, as the poster below stated.
  • Alternate opinion: sure, they are not as strong as before, and only attack once, but the maces are still wonderfull. The previous poster missed an important aspect: strength 8, AP2 AT INITIATIVE. Regular chums need to go down to I 1 to get this, even HQ (outside uber-special snowflakes like Calgar and Dante). You take a bit of a gamble, yes. But in most cases a single wound will instagib the unfortunate sod you were charging at (unless it has eternal warrior or T5, but most things that have 2+ save are T4, barring warbosses on mega armor)

• Ravenwing Command Squad - Another reshuffling of the FOC, they are the Ravenwing equivalent to the Deathwing Command Squad. You can load these biker boyz out with all sorts of goodies including plasma talons (18" twin-linked plasma guns), Corvus Hammers (+1S, AP-, Rending) and one really weird grenade launcher. Just like the others, you can have an apothecary, banner bearer and a company champion who must now auto-issue and auto-accept challenges, but like DW command squads, these guys are a one per army choice. Enjoy! The squad is 3 knights but you can add three more guys. If you're taking a character on bike and you plan on taking a smallish squad of black knights, you would be better served taking them as a command squad, so you can save yourself a FA choice and a few points.

• Dreadnoughts - A versatile choice and now coming in squads on 1-3 model. Can do everything generally well. It can punch with its upgraded four attacks, it can dakka with the normal option of guns and has improved Overwatch thanks to army-wide Grim Resolve.. Dark Angels might just be the one Space Marine army wherein the Hellfire configuration (lascannons and missile launcher) make the most sense, but the rifleman is also a good sell. If you really wanna smash things with your half-dead space marine robot, get yourself a venerable dread.

• Venerable Dreadnoughts - Another squad of 1-3 dreadnoughts, clocking in at 125 pts each. Which is a bargain considering it has a BS and WS of 5. It gets the classic Venerable rule along with the new Grim Resolve and Deathwing rules for Hatred (Chaos Marines) and Overwatch at BS2 or higher in certain formations. Venerable dreadnoughts are recommended against CSM, to whom they will do terrible things. Also provides a lot of customisation. Pick them 'cause they easily fill up those elites and in a Deathwing Strike Force, where they're not only Boss, they are absolutely essential if you want to play solo Deathwing.

• Mortis Dreadnought (Forgeworld) - It's your special dreadnought (all other chapters are limited to 1 per detachment) 115pts basic with 2 Missile Launchers, which can be upgraded to two Twin-Linked Heavy Bolters, two Twin-Linked Autocannons or two Twin-Linked Lascannons. It also counts as Skyfire/Interceptor while stationary - take double autocannons and think of it like your space marine hydra flak tank. Take 2 or Mortis Contemptor.

• Chaplain Dreadnought (Forgeworld) - Ever wanted to roleplay a Furioso Dreadnought? Well now you have the chance! As of IA2:2nd edition you can take a Chaplain Dreadnought which is basically a venerable dreadnought with the Universal Hatred USR, rather than against Chaos Space Marines for 10 points more than its equivalent, but it can't get Preferred Enemy so your mileage may vary against CSM. This is supposed to be your close combat dreadnought as most of the ranged options are wasted on this machine anyway, your Mortis or regular Ven-Dreads should do the shooting instead. Unfortunately it now pales in comparison to regular dreadnoughts since it is stuck with the base two attacks from the previous edition and the inability to be taken in squadrons. If you really want to take one, switch the arm for a Flamestorm cannon since it's not on the usual weapon lists for a dreadnought and you trade out the extra CCW attack for the ability to erase MEQ models just prior to your charge. Either that or pester Forge World for an update.

• Siege Dreadnought (Forgeworld) - You get the same forgeworld toys as the regular marines, comes stock with a Flamestorm Cannon & Assault Drill w/ Heavy Flamer. The only options are swapping the Flamestorm with a Multi-Melta and adding Hunter-Killer Missiles to its pauldrons like an Ironclad. The Assault Drill is a bit useful in that it gives free hits to occupants of vehicles or buildings with that flamer, but that's its only gimmick, which has essentially just told you what you should be doing with this dreadnought and so taking the Multi-Melta actually becomes a sensible option if you're focusing on buildings/vehicles. If you want an all-comers dreadnought then a normal dreadnought squadron can do the same jobs either better or cheaper.

• Contemptor Dreadnought (Forgeworld) - Yes, you get the basic one that regular Spess Muhreens get. The Contemptor is easily Forgeworld's most popular model and it's not hard to see why: excellent armour (13/12/10), WS 5, fleet, automatic shielding and a many, many weapon options available. Unfortunately as a close combat tool it is now trapped in the mediocre position of being worse than the regular dreadnoughts due to the difference in base attack stats and the ability to be taken in squadrons. Now the best way to use Contemptors is as dakka dreads if you have taken a gun option on each arm.

• Contemptor-Mortis Dreadnought (Forgeworld): Probably the best Contemptor variant, this guy trades in fleet heaving a melee weapon for more dakka and the ability to gain Skyfire and Interceptor by standing still, and considering the changes to the regular Dreadnought squadrons, taking a Mortis Dreadnought remains as good an option as before, since you were not taking it for it's melee capabilities and you wanted some walking Anti-Air and/or Ground firepower. Here's your loadout: ignore everything and take 2 Kheres pattern assault cannons and a cyclone missile launcher. There! You're done. If you find yourself not in range of the assault cannons, move forward and throw down with a couple of missiles. If you DO have something in assault cannon range, hold still and let the rape flow - your dread will loose a total of 12 S6 AP4 rending shots at 24" on a hapless unit and if you stood still, you can drop 2 more missiles on the poor fuckers. You will tear apart tanks, mow down infantry and blast aircraft out of the sky with this fucking thing. is also a victim of Forgeworld's schizophrenia, this bad boy has been moved back and forth from slot to slot, IA2:2nd moved it back to Elites and took away its BS5, presumably to balance out the sickening build recommended above, still rapes things even at BS4 though.
  • Also this is EASILY the best anti-air model you can take in Codex: Dark Angels. If you are struggling to win games against Chaos Daemon Flying Circus or Chaos Space Marine Heldrake spam, brining one of these guys is usually enough to single-handedly turn the tide against their stupid OP-as-fuck flyers and you'll only spend slightly more points going double Kheres-Pattern assault cannons/TW-LasCannons + Cyclone Launcher as you would on your own overcosted Nephilim Jetfighter.
  • If you're looking at the Contemptor Mortis as an anti-air option, and you probably are, you could consider taking the autocannons as an alternative to the Kheres assault cannons, especially if you're desperate to cut points. Why? Just hear me out. I will start off by saying this setup can under perform compared to the Kheres ACs but comes with a few perks of its own, the main benefit being range. At 24" the Kheres pattern ACs can be insufficient for covering the skies. They are better suited for creating a "no-fly zone" (albeit a no-fly zone 2/3 the size of the battlefield if positioned correctly) as opposed to providing table-wide AA coverage. The autocannons on the other hand operate at a full 48", pairing nicely with that hefty Cyclone Missile Launcher on your back, and have base S7. This means that a single hit from an autocannon (compared to one hit from an assault cannon) is twice as likely to remove a hull point from your opponents' toughest flyers (ie: Heldrake, Stormraven, Vendetta) and at double the distance. With a 48" range (96"-diameter sphere of fire) you also have more options when it comes to positioning your half-dead tin can during deployment, and won't ever have to sacrifice a turn of Skyfire/Interceptor in order to shift your position mid-game. Trading Heavy 6/Rending for Heavy 2 might sound like an instant deal-breaker at first, but with BS5 and twin-linked your bullets aren't going to miss, so that extra point of Strength on the autocannons means your seemingly underwhelming 4 shots will reliably strip as least one HP from anything AV12 (usually two, and sometimes three). Whatever remains after your initial volley the Cyclone Missile Launcher will usually clean up. The 12-shot volley coming from the Kheres ACs will perform a bit more inconsistently, landing sporadically between 0 and as many as 5 HP worth of damage on AV12, but on the plus side will always penetrate. Frankly if you have the points you should just go with the Kheres ACs and plop your 'nought down in the center of the table. But if you feel those 15 points are better spent elsewhere or your beardy neck is the rebellious type, this is a viable alternative and can still neutralize/neuter your opponents' flyers the same turn they come in, or at least cuckold whatever strategy they intended to use. Of course, employing a second autocannon CM mitigates most of the drawbacks present in using a lone one, and virtually guarantees a wrecked flyer the second it hits the table. Not to mention 30 extra spending points (hey, that's a PFG you could purchase to improve survivability). Some noteworthy bonuses to fielding the autocannons include a) double the distance of fire support to your ground units (when you have nothing in the air to shoot at); considering Deathwing tend to Deep Strike waaay behind enemy lines, and Ravenwing have the mobility to reach even the farthest corners of the table quickly this could make a difference, and b) virtually no chance for your opponent to avoid interceptor fire, thus shutting down any wasteful (but harrowing) suicide flyer tactics. At the very least, this option is worth testing out on your own. Roll a couple dice, run a few simulations and see how the autocannons perform for you. End Act I.

• Prometheus (Forgeworld) - An uber crusader. Two quad heavy bolters is the same number of shots as hurricane bolters at <12", twice as many at 12-24, and can actually shoot up to 36, with the advantage of being S5. It's a HB dev squad, twin-linked. Granted, it loses the assault cannon but it fucks with cover saves and boosts reserve rolls (2+ reserves ftw!). Don't put it near enemy heavy armour, but a solid tank overall.

Fast Attack

• Assault Squad: DA Assault Marines are a decent unit, although they don't see much use for players that run Ravenwing/a hybrid with other Wings, or finds other units to be more useful. Generally Greenwing armies can find use for them, giving that most of the other units in the FA slot is RW based. Their main use, in case you don't know, is to mop up objective campers/shooty units that are either weak, suck in melee, come in low numbers, or any combination. The major fatal blow that our Assault Marines suffer is that Allies, not least with Blood Angels, can do the same jobs better. 7th edition gave them a minor boost in that they can now score along with everything else, so you get a unit that is almost as fast as Ravenwing (without turbo boosting) but can dish out more attacks and can also deep strike but is cheaper than a Terminator squad. Also, they can take Eviscerators now, which are just fancy chainfists for the most part, in case you need a can opener.
  • 1). 10 man squad with Meltabombs: Can take on units like Kroot, Cultists, Pink Horrors, and the like, and can go after vehicles after they have done their job. I also wouldn't advise dropping their Jump Packs at all, since they can't take a Razorback instead, and Rhinos just makes them worse, having to waste a turn in order to assault the said unit.
  • 2). 5 man squad with a Flamer, inside a Land Raider Redeemer: A costly build, but works well against Horde armies, at least Orks and Tyranids. Since the Redeemer is an Assault vehicle, this makes it easy for the Marines to charge in after the Flamestorm Cannon and Flamer wreak havoc on your xenos scum targets. This can also work with a Drop Pod, just add another Flamer and give those heretics a big surprise.
  • Thanks to the Battle Demi-Company, they now have easy access to Objective Secured. Yes, ObSec Jump units. Lordy...

• Ravenwing Bike Squadron - You start with 3 Bikes, with the option of buying 3 more. Unlike most other space marine bikers (except white scars) these guys all have hit & run, but they also have the scout USR meaning either extra movement at the start of the game or the ability to outflank them and ruin your opponents shit, especially if you want to deep strike your Deathwing close to a board edge using your teleport homers, which each guy comes with as standard. You can also buy yourself a single attack bike which does it's own thing if you combat squad, but at least is no longer forced to ride separately if you wanted to keep the squad together. Attach Meltaguns for tank hunting fun. Combine with Assault Cannon-wielding Deathwing for extra fun. No more Land Speeders in bike squads, you get a special formation for that now.

• Ravenwing Attack Bike Squadron - Get your own squad of 1-3 attack bikes, rather than regular bike squads hogging the sidecars. They have the same basic ravenwing gear and rules but no option other than Meltas or no Meltas? And to be honest if you've got them running separately you'll take meltas for swift moving tank popping and keep any Heavy Bolter bikes in your regular Ravenwing squads.

• Ravenwing Black Knights - You saw those Deathwing Knights, right? These are their RW equivalent: not much different from a standard biker stat-wise (+1A, +1Ld), but these bros do each come with Corvus Hammers (+1S, rending melee weapons) + Pistols and Plasma Talons, which makes them a threat to pretty much everything. Equipping these fellas with ravenwing grenade launchers gives access to rad-shells (to-wound rolls of 6 inflict additional wounds like Skitarii Rad weapons, no more -1 Toughness nerf) and stasis shells (temporary -1 WS and -1 I). Have fun wiping out marines before they strike. GL combines nastily with Deathwing Knights while AP3 versus CSM combined with WS/I debuff means your DW Knights will strike before CSM, hit on 3+, wound on 2+ and won't allow armor saves.
  • Other Notes: When taking a Deathwing Army, you're more often than not better off with these guys instead. Not only do these guys say "Fuck you" to the whole "Difficult = Dangerous thing" that comes with Skilled Rider USR (actually, ignoring Dangerous Terrain altogether!) but they have an improved Jink (extra fuck you), and they're basically Ymgarl Genestealers that always have the Toughness and Strength boost, -2 Initiative, -1 Weapon Skill, moving around like an asshole, and twin plasma guns. We even have the same number of attacks as a Genestealer (on the charge, thanks to our two weapons), and rending! Even better, they also keep their Teleport homers, so you can deepstrike Terminators easily, and in stranger spots.
  • A bike mounted Chaplain is an especially potent attachment for the unit. Along with the obvious benefit of Fearless, he combos surprisingly well with Hit & Run. Instead of charging in for a single turn of re-rolls then being stuck and unable to get out of combat thanks to Fearless, the Black Knights can then Hit & Run, letting them break out of combat, since they're not choosing to fail a morale check. Now they can assault something else getting the re-rolls all over again. Rinse and repeat. Make it an Interrogator and they can take Hit & Run at I5. He won't get a plasma talon, but you can give him an Auspex for 5pts and have him forgo shooting to drop the cover save of whatever the squad's shooting in rapid fire range. Those ruins won't save those MEQs from your plasma anymore.

• Ravenwing Land Speeders - Land Speeders, NOT just like what the other chapters get, for two reasons. First, you can take up to five of these instead of everyone else who only gets three. This makes speeders a very versatile if somewhat expensive choice. Equip them with a Typhoon and a Multi-Melta in order to handle hordes and tanks. Equip them with double flamers to make nids and other weedy skirmishers cry. Equip them with assault cannons and heavy bolters so you can force multiply with Sammael when he decides to leave his jetbike at home. Squadron them up if you wish, as squads of 3+ add 6" to their Flat-Out moves.
  • It's the cheapest way to field Heavy Bolters en-masse, if you take the second heavy bolter. A full squadron is 275 points nets you 10 heavy bolters, all that are arguably more difficult to deal with than they would be mounted on mere power armor marines. 30 S5AP4 shots at 36 inches on highly mobile with BS4 for only 250 points is massively underrated

• Ravenwing Dark Talon - THIS THING TROLLS ALL OTHER ARMIES. GET IT. I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE GOING TERMINATOR, JUST GET IT. 7E made this a whole lot better. Not the best armour to be had at 11 all around, but it does pack a LOT of dakka, as in double hurricane bolters and a S10 AP2 heavy 1, blinding, blast rift cannon that becomes Vortex (and therefore Destroyer) if you roll doubles on the scatter dice, even if you rolled a direct hit. The stasis bomb drops a can of Derp on your enemy, debuffing them for a whopping -3 to WS and I until the end of your turn. Also, all enemies must make initiative tests for unsaved wounds, or be removed from play. And remember this Initiative test will be taken at the previously modified -3. So you have virtually guaranteed a kill on anything that suffers wounds, but with that being said, the bomb is only S4 AP5 so you'd be lucky to get those wounds in the first place. Couple one of these with a Black knight unit for extra rage and hilarity. A Stormtalon now has nothing on this son of a bitch, the Dark Talon can both dish out carnage plus support your army.

• Nephilim Jetfighter: Dropped to 170 points in the new codex and given a little extra bite. Still 3HP with AV11 all around, and missiles have been bufed to S7 AP3 and given Missile Lock special rule. Not too bad, but still doesn't feel like a must-take. It also has a special rule called Unrelenting Hunter; when firing at enemy vehicles, you can make the enemy swap out Weapon Destroyed for Immobilized (since the Lascannon is AP2, it has a half chance of scoring an Immobilized result, assuming it pens of course). 7th helped this rule out a bit, as Immobilized flyers now have a 1/3 chance of blowing up. More importantly, it also has Strafing Run, a (rare) USR that gets +1 BS against ground targets, which means it'll be chewing away at BS 5. You can switch out the Lascannon for an Avenger Mega Bolter for free. You'll get 5 S6, AP 4, Pinning shots at BS 5. Suddenly, it became a fairly decent ground attack craft.
  • Consider the Fire Raptor gunship from Forgeworld, if you have the points/money; it does exactly the same job, but better, for 50 points extra.

• Ravenwing Darkshroud - Fuckin' A! Anyway, you know how shooty armies have to scurry around finding cover so they don't get set up for an assault or blasted for being out in the open? Well, the Dark Angels Techmarines thought "why not bring our own cover?" Let's be serious for a second: it's a big landspeeder. Yes, you can deepstrike it like a landspeeder, but you're gonna miss out on providing cover for things in rhinos. Second, it has the HUEG GUTS problem, as every Blood Angels player is familiar with. Just keep this thing behind some rhinos, giving your guys fear & stealth and doing mean things to whatever thought it was a good idea to charge that tac squad. Also watch Ravenwing get 2+ re-rollable Jink. Obviously, this thing NEEDS to be jinked EVERY turn for re-rollable 2+ Cover or it WILL die easily. For this reason it is not worth purchasing the Assault Cannon to only ever fire snap shots as those points could be put to better use elsewhere. Plus the stock Heavy Bolter has a longer range meaning your Darkshroud can comfortably sit out of return-fire range of rapid fire weapons which CAN glance this thing to death. Now, any units that charge while in the Shrouded bubble are protected from Overwatch completely.

• Land Speeder Tempest Squadron (Forgeworld) - Feels like a good fluffy choice for Dark Angels armies as an alternative to Ravenwing support squad though with slightly improved front armour and the ability to shrug off crew shaken/stunned with armoured cockpits. IA2:2nd made this cooler, with the addition of twin-linked flakk missiles, a squadron of these can perform any role asked of it. Anti-Infantry & Anti-Tank using rending assault cannons and frag or krak missiles depending on your situation. Even without skyfire on the assault cannon, the amount of shots are bound to hit something in the air if you have several of them. While not true flyers, if you wanted to you can reposition on the battlefield them as if they were flyers.

• Relic Javelin Attack Speeder (Forge World) - An upgunned and uparmored Land Speeder that flies solo. AV11 means it is now invulnerable to bolter fire, but still melts under anti-tank (though jink saves help a bit). Costs less than a Tempest speeder, but it is more customisable, packs a cyclone missile launcher (for shots instead of twin-linked) OR a twin linked lascannon for tank hunting and as a nice bonus it looks absolutely fabulous. The main downside is a real money price - almost THREE TIMES MORE than regular speeder - like it's silver-plated or something. Also as a relic requires an Interrogator Chaplain if you want to take more than one.

• Caestus Assault Ram (Forge World) - Craziest vehicle in the game, designed to ram things (hence the name), and accomplishes this by having a 5+ inv. save against attacks on the front (inc. rams, either from the enemy ramming you or you ramming them), re-rolls the armour penetration dice when ramming, and +1 to the vehicle damage roll, and godlike-impenetrable for a flyer armour of 13 13 11. Contains a twin-linked MAGNA-MELTA (WTF?), which is: range:18" str:8 AP:1 type:Heavy 1, large blast, melta. Sound fun, eh? Holds ten men, ideal for punching a hole in the enemy battle lines and disgorging troops, AND it's an assault vehicle, so straight into close combat (and no restriction against terminators, in fact, they only count as one man inside this, not two! *even BETTER in Dark Angels armies*). Now this means that the Caestus has to be fast, and it is! Its type is: Flyer (hover mode), and it STILL can ram/tankshock while zooming. Comes stock with extra armour, and Ceramite shielding (immunity to 'melta' rule). Options are: Firefury missile battery (range: 36" str:6 AP:4 type:Heavy 4, blast, twin-linked, one-use), Teleport homer, and Frag assault launchers. One should use the Caestus to ram straight through the strongest point in your enemies force, in most battles you'll be there on turn one, thanks to the 36" afterburner. Ram a tank with this (Generally given the colossal afterburner you'll give them a S10 hit) and then deploy the men inside (preferably dedicated H2H troops), and charge straight in against the nearest infantry, or if you feel like it, shove a grenade up a nearby tank's tailpipe. The latest rules for the Caestus are in Imperial Armour: Volume 2, 2nd Edition which explicitly gives it an exception to the supersonic rule where it can choose to enter hover mode and the passengers can disembark.

• Xiphon pattern Interceptor (Forge World) - For 35 points over the Nephilim you get a "proper" interceptor. You lose one HP, the strafing run rule and the ability to hover, but you swap the superfluous Heavy bolter for a second Lascannon and the missiles are FAR superior. It's also agile and supersonic. It probably is overcosted, but it is exactly what you want in a vehicle/aircraft hunting role for an interceptor.
  • Modelling hint - take your Nephilim and just replace the Heavy Bolters with spare lascannon barrels and you're good to go. It might not be the Battlestar Galactica jet, but easily fills WYSIWYG for a significant £$€ saving.

Heavy Support

• Devastator Squad - These guys got better, and hot damn did they need to! This can be where you get your cheap, en mass anti-air: missile launchers + flakk missiles x4 + 70 pts. to start with the squad offers 4 flakk missile shots a turn for about 170 pts, although Dark Angels can field a Mortis-pattern Dreadnought with two twin-linked autocannons for 135 points. If you are looking for cheap AA, the Mortis can deliver a more accurate barrage coming from a more durable platform, unless you're not allowed to use Forge World models in your tournament. Alternatively, these guys can use heavy bolters at no extra cost, and they shine in games below 1500 pts. against Orks, Guards, Daemons, ect. So if you take them, get the Veteran sergeant carry a power sword and either a Plasma pistol or a bolter, and go for the cheap heavy weapons (I wouldn't recommend going for two of each). But in bigger point games, get the Dark Talon or a Predator to do your bidding instead.
  • An Armourium Cherub is also something to consider; it grants you one turn's worth of re-rolls on all hits when used. This can make priority removal real easy.
  • The new Grim Resolve rules made these guys a whole lot scarier. Where historically Devastators abhor a melee (and they still do) your opponent will have to weather a face full of whatever they're packing before getting that charge. Four krak missiles or lascannons? Plus all the spare bolters and whatever the sergeant is packing, all at full BS in a Lion's Blade formation. That would make even a greater daemon / hive tyrant think carefully before deciding to charge you, especially if he's been wounded earlier in the fight. Do the same thing with 5-shot Grav Cannons and your opponent might as well remove those terminators rather than assault you, cause you're just going to shoot him again if he doesn't.

• Land Raider - The classic schizo version. Comes with 2 Twin-Linked Lascannon sponsons and a Heavy Bolter. In some lists it could see some use (Deathwing spam with no Dreadnoughts (WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT) comes to mind), but for most cases I'd suggest leaving this alone and choosing the Crusader variant instead.

• Land Raider Crusader - Your premier Deathwing carrying Metal Box. Rolls with a Twin-Linked Assault Cannon, a Multi-Melta, two Hurricane Bolters, and lets whatever assaults out of it count as having Frag Grenades for the same price as the schizo version. Sadly it's feeling the loss of the dakka banner just as badly as Ravenwing is, so you may want to consider a Redeemer or Spartan Assault Tank whenever possible.

• Land Raider Redeemer - Used for when you need to apply more fire. For 10 points cheaper than the Crusader, it replaces the hurricane bolters and four models worth of transport capacity for two Flamestorm Cannons. The addition of two strength 6 AP 3 templates helps melt power armored foes. The lack of the torrent rule does mean that you will be up close to utilize all your guns, but since it's an assault vehicle just slap some Thunder Hammer Termies inside and drive closer to hit them with your sword(hammer). For added shenanigans against mechanized infantry lists, take a multi-melta, use it with Power of the Machine Spirit to take away their metal bawkses and the Flamestorm Cannons to incinerate the fewlz inside.

• Land Raider Helios (Forgeworld) - It thinks it's a Whirlwind on steroids, which comes stock with twin-linked lascannon sponsons. More survivable and versatile than the Whirlwind, but is definitely not worth the points cost unless you go for the anti-air version, since the Ordnance rules on the Launcher cause every other weapon on the tank to snap-fire at BS1, even if you PotMS with them. Also carries six models for some insane reason. If you ask us, it'd probably be better off not being able to transport infantry in exchange for two more gun mounts, probably autocannons. Mais c'est la vie.
  • ALTERNATE TAKE: If you prefer, you can swap the ordnance whirlwind for the AA version, which works very well as an enemy vehicle hunter, the twin-linked "heat seeking" krak missile launcher can used PotMS to shoot a flyer separately from the lascannons (don't forget it has interceptor too!) though skyfire/interceptor weapons is of little use against ground targets unless they are skimmers. Not bad if you're only transporting six models anyways (i.e. HQ + command squad), not that a command squad needs a LR, but this could be an awesome choice for them if you do it anyways. Can also be given a Multi-Melta if you want to go nuts for a premier tank hunter which can even outperform the Achilles (below) for LESS points.

• Land Raider Achilles (Forgeworld) - Oh hell yes, this beast sports a Thunderfire Cannon and twin-linked multi-melta sponsons, has immunity to the Melta and Lance special rules, puts a -1 penalty on most other attacks, can carry six models, and doesn't go 'splodey. Put a scout squad and a techmarine in it, plonk it down on an objective, and watch your opponent throw a shit fit. Eldar and Dark Eldar will really Rage at it since that don't have much anti-tank outside of meltas and lances. Though, they have haywire/D-weapon, and you really should beware them, as hawks, wraithguards, witches and scourges would blow your "expensive but invincible" tank in eye blink, once they came in threat range. Just try and destroy that platform of death, I dare you... OH NO KEEP THAT 7th EDITION WRAITKNIGHT AWAY! *Wraithknight touches Achilles and it explodes* FUCK! Who gave them S:D Weapons?)

• Spartan Assault Tank (Forgeworld) - Forgeworld takes the old schizophrenic Land Raider, and pumps it up with steroids. Fucking five hull points, two twin-linked two-shot lascannons (it almost gets off as many lascannon shots as a terminus ultra while still being able to carry troops, doesn't go boom when you roll badly, and gets way more goodies), TL heavy bolters, transport capacity of 25, in-built extra armor, good-old 14/14/14, PotMS and Assault Vehicle. You even can take frag launchers (which got far more awesome with the new grenade rules) and ceramite shielding (fuck you, meltaguns) for a marginal increase in points. Meaning it can do the roles of the Terminus Ultra, the Achilles, and the Ares all at the same time, all it really needs are some burny weapons. But what are the drawbacks you ask? This uber metal box can not be taken as a dedicated transport at all. Also, as a Forgeworld model, it will cost you a unicorn's soul.
  • At only 45 points more, there is no reason to take the Godhammer landraider over this beast ever again.
  • Your opponent might hate your guts if you field this.

• Relic Sicaran (Forgeworld) - A high speed assault tank that is a halfway between a Land Raider and a Predator. For 135 points you get 13/12/12, fast and the Herakles pattern Accelerator Autocannon, which is R48", S7, AP4, Heavy 6, Rending, and Twin-linked....and no jink saves allowed. This tank makes the Eldar, Harlequins, and Dark Eldar cry. Even Wave Serpents will fall before this (sadly you can only have one while the Eldar player will spam Wave Serpents.) The Sicaran can also take ceramite plating, making it very durable. Being a Relic of the Armory, you need to take an Interrogator-Chaplain if you want more than 1 Sicaran or a Fire Raptor as well.

• Predators - Now in squadron format like their codex cousins. You can take 1-3 of them as a single choice, and when there are three of them they all get Tank/Monster Hunter. If you want to kill infantry, add Heavy Bolter sponsons and nothing else. It's dirt cheap (95pts), and can threaten light vehicles with its Autocannon. If you want something more for popping tanks, keep the Autocannon turret and slap on the Lascannon sponsons. This is 115pts, and does its job. The Tri-Las is not bad if you face Monsterous Creatures often, and it can also pop Land Raiders better, especially with the Tank Hunter bonus. Going overboard with the Lascannons is expensive though, so bear that in mind.

• Relic Predator Executioner (Forgeworld) - Do you remember Leman Russ Executioner? Well, space marines look at it, and say "we need something like that". With 3-shot plasma cannon this thing would blast MEQ and TEQ from table next turn they come in range. Additionally, you can swap main gun for heavy conversion beamer - this would only work better at long distances, and forces you to move OR shoot, but 48-72" S10 AP1 big blast shot would retake the price of tank the second it shot - think of it like a long range Vindicator.

• Predator Infernus (Forgeworld) - Predator with turret mounted flamestorm cannon (those AP3 flamethrower from Redeemer). While highly devastating at close range it's just too slow. Slow flamer tanks sucks. If you want one that bad, just take allied Blood Angels with a Baal Pred. If this thing come close to any non-TEQ infantry, it would ruin their day, and then die to a single melta shot, or hail of krak grenades. But most commonly it would just die, because big scary flamer, approaching your lines attract a LOT of fire. Thank god, this tank is also cheap, so you can use it as expendable fire magnet. Alternatively Infernus can exchange his super-flamer for MAGNA-MELTA (R18 S8 AP1 Heavy1, Large Blast, Melta), transforming into wannabe-Vindicator.

• Whirlwind - Your artillery piece. Can't do shit against vehicles, but hordes fear it. May be taken in squadrons, but there may be some merit in taking a single Whirlwind depending on the point size and who you're facing. In games below 1000pts, you can find use for these against lightly armoured infantry. It can also help slow down MEQs from advancing into close combat, which isn't bad for it's points. Like Predators, they get a bonus when taken in threes, where they cause Pinning and have Shredding. Which gives it a new lease on life in large point games where a single whirlwind is practically useless, a full squadron becomes a dangerous threat.
  • Dark Angels are all about synergy and a full squadron can cause real speed bumps if you managed to hit the target with Seed of Fear earlier in your turn. Three shredding pie plates should be enough to cause at least one wound even on MEQs, so guarantee pinning them in place and neuter their turn.

• Whirlwind Hyperios (Forgeworld) - This thing is supposed to be your main ground based anti-air, but it sucks. One skyfire/interceptor krak shot per turn, no longer functions against ground targets as of 7th Edition (but still heat-seeking against aircraft) and you can not squadron this thing like IG player squadron their Hydras. This tank now performs quite poorly so just take Devastators or a Contemptor Mortis or count-it as a normal Whirlwind if you own one.

• Relic Whirlwind Scorpius (Forgeworld) - Unlike the standard Whirlwind, the Scorpius fires a small blast, but at S8 and AP3 it eats marines and light vehicles for breakfast. And if it stands still it can fire D3+1 templates. It is a relic vehicle so take an Interrogator Chaplain if you use a lot of similar Forgeworld stuff.

• Vindicator - This tank features a very scary gun. A very scary Strength 10 AP2 Large Blast gun. This tank is a massive fire magnet, and thus probably won't get to drop its hot steamy load over an unfortunate squad. It has AV13 on the front though, so if your Demolisher Cannon gets blown off it's still great for tank shocking. Can also now be taken in squadrons of up to three if you'd like to change the shooting from all three of them for an Apocalyptic blast that Ignores Cover. Yes you'd like to do that wouldn't you. Be careful because the range still remains 24" so it becomes a bit of a Danger Close situation, especially since your own infantry is presumably going to somewhere close to the tank and the enemy you were shooting at.

• Land Speeder Vengeance - Someone on The Rock one day, likely after a lengthy campaign against Orks, took a look at the venerable land speeder and said "needs more dakka!" Always a welcome idea, but they messed up the dakka-to-weight ratio. A couple years later they tried to patch it with a 20 point reduction (down to 120 points) and an extra HP, while also boosting its big gun range to 36 inches. Will this patch work? Only time will tell. As for what that dakka actually was, the Vengeance comes with a heavy bolter (swap with an assault cannon for +10 points) and the Plasma Storm Battery, which has two shooting profiles: heavy 1 large blast, great for messing up blobs, and heavy 3, great for glancing your own speeder to death under the Gets Hot rules.
  • If you have one of these (which is only acceptable if you magnetized it to run it as either this for gimmick games, or as the superior Protoss Arbiter Darkshroud), bring a Librarian as one of your HQ choices. The Primaris power for Divination, Prescience, allows you to re-roll all misses on the target unit. Glancing yourself to death with Gets Hot rolls effectively gets eliminated, and it lets you re-roll Gets Hot and your Scatter should you fire the large plasma blast template. It doesn't eliminate the fact it is overcosted like woah, but it does make it pretty killy.

• Storm Eagle (Forge World) - Your transport Flyer. (IA12 moved it to Heavy) Occupies the middle-ground between the Stormraven and the Thunderhawk. Transport capacity of 20, with deathwing terminators and jump infantry counting as 2 models each. Impressive arsenal of weaponry, standard armament: Hull-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolter, Hull-mounted Vengeance Launcher (Range:48"|Str:5|AP:4|Heavy 2, Large Blast). Optional armament includes: Switching Heavy bolters for Multi-meltas or a Typhoon missile launcher, and adding 4 Hellstrike Missiles or 2 Twin-linked Lascannon under the wings. Also get ceramite shielding, and the 'Power of the Machine Spirit' special rule, along with 12|12|12 armour. Can also deep strike, and disembarking infantry can assault in the same turn. = *WIN*
  • While passengers on zooming flyers after crashing is always a worry, remember that this flyer is considerably harder than most other flyers barring the Heldrake anyway, at AV12 all round, HP4 and ceramite plating it is pretty much invulnerable to small arms fire, so your opponent will have to dedicate his biggest weapons to take it out; even when it decides to hover. (Therefore NOT shooting at your newly disembarked terminators). Also, don't forget that with all things Dark Angels, you use SYNERGY to get the most out of your units, a hovering flyer gets a jink save that can be boosted by having a Darkshroud nearby, or you attach a techmarine with a power field to the passenger unit and he blankets the vehicle thanks to the 7th Edition FAQ again, hell, the force field can even protect the passengers if it explodes mid air.

• Fire Raptor Gunship (Forge World) - Official rules in IA2:2nd. Comes naked with a TL Avenger Bolt Cannon (being a proper manly S6 AP3 7 shots instead of the peewee Nephilim's AP4 5 Shots), 4 Stormtrike Missiles (S8 Concussive, NOT Ordnance, YAY) and two Independent-Turret Quad Heavy Bolters (which can be replaced with TL Autocannon for free); the latter which aside from firing at their own targets as rumored, don't count towards the number of weapons fired! With all the twin-linked goodness, Strafing Run and PotMS/Independent-turrets; this bastard can dump its entire payload on FOUR SEPARATE TARGETS in a single turn and hit almost every time and it's only 45 points more than the Nephilim = BARGAIN (except for FW prices). It is a relic vehicle, so if you want to take more than one (or any other relic vehicle) remember to grab an Interrogator Chaplain as one of your HQ choices.

• Legion Rapier Battery (Forgeworld) - 1-3 Rapier Quad Linked Heavy Bolters (like on the Prometheus). Two of them are essentially a devastator squad. Though can be upgraded to Laser Destroyers, which is like a lascannon devastator squad with a shorter range but are twin-linked and give the ordnance ability of an extra chance of penetration against vehicles. The drawback to this is that they don’t have the mobility of a tank or Heavy Support Squad would give you. You’ll want to set them up in terrain somewhere in the backfield and not move them after they are deployed. Points for points the Rapier will be cheaper than many of the Heavy Support choices and will probably be just as lethal.

• Deathstorm Drop Pod (Forgeworld) - Expecting the drop pod that just landed to contain troops or a heavy weapons platform you don't have to worry about until next turn? SURPRISE! Whirlwind missiles! For you! In the face! There are two different versions though since GW cannot co-ordinate with Forgeworld: Though Imperial Armour 2 is more recent than Warzone: Damnos by a margin of a couple of months, Damnos is a valid core GW product (if your opponent argues with you over Forgeworld) and uses much the same rules as the Horus Heresy version which is even more recent than them both.
  • Warzone Damnos: It is considerably more reliable simply by dropping most of the old special rules and just saying "Hey, I've got FIVE whirlwind launchers!!" Each with independent machine spirits that can shoot in a different direction. While those that read the small print will find that it fires only the SMALL (3") blast markers, that downside is traded off with the fact that it forces re-rolls for pinning and morale checks.
  • IA2:2nd changed it AGAIN because of FW schizophrenia. It's gone back to what it used to be, meaning it spams proper whirlwind missiles on EVERYTHING on the turn it arrives, then reverts to a stationary whirlwind launcher for the rest of the game. The launchers may also be upgraded to assault cannons for an extra 20 points, but this should only be done if you expect it to survive more than one turn (and you really shouldn't). Very situational, but if your opponent fields lots of small units relatively close together, dropping this in the middle of them is almost guaranteed to ruin his day. Can't take a locator beacon, though and does not come with the Drop Pod Assault rule as standard, that has to be bought.

• Space Marine Sentry Gun Battery (Forge World) - From IA:12 you get a battery of up to three immobile twin-linked Heavy Bolters for the bargain cost of 15 points each and swap them for a Multi-melta for five or pay ten for TL Lascannons. Being automated, you have very little control over what they actually do in the battle, they select their own targets based on pre-set criteria, you basically just get to choose at deployment what their arcs are: 360 degrees but at 18" range, or 90 degrees at 36" range, so you're rarely going to be blasting things across the table with these things. You DO get the ability to deep strike them for a laugh or give them camo netting for stealth if you can set them up in a good spot to make them invulnerable to most shooting. (while you can pay the cost for both, just don't because it you deep strike into cover you are waiting for a mishap. Set them up behind an aegis defense line with camo for 2+ cover.
  • DON'T EVER mix and match guns or targeting criteria, nowhere in the rules do they say they deploy separately or behave any differently from any other artillery battery, meaning they should all be firing at the same target, which is still the one they select for themselves...
  • As a added bonus though, you can instead swap the guns for Hyperios Missile Launchers, which don't suffer from the firing modes rules, allowing you to direct the shots at your leisure. Basically krak missiles with skyfire and interceptor, this configuration does most jobs you ask it to without complaint, just don't waste the points (or the money) with the command platform, as by swapping one of the guns you've replaced the ability to fire three missiles at the same target with two missiles at different targets... it should have been a free upgrade or the unit needed to be bigger than three launchers... certainly not clever.

• Relic Deredeo Pattern Dreadnought (Experimental Rules online) - A Heavy Support alternative to a Mortis-Dreadnought or Mortis-Contemptor. For exactly the same cost as Contemptor-Mortis with a pair of TL Autocannons you get +1 rear armour, +1 Ballistic Skill, Extra Armour and TL Heavy Bolters built-in and the Deredeo's Anvillus Autocannons have higher strength and the Sunder quality (basically Tank Hunters USR for that weapon only). You get the same Helical Targeting array and Atomantic Shielding, but you lose a point of strength, one attack and don't have many customisation options (right now), but since this is not a melee dreadnought at all, for that cost it's a bargain and preferable over a Contemptor Mortis for an AA role. The Aiolos Launcher is a bit off-key, since it doesn't really have the strength to rate highly as an anti-vehicle, even though it always hits targets side armour (which is often 11-12) and does better as an MEQ killer due to AP3, which is helped in this role since it can fire independently of the Deredeo's other weapon.
  • In a Dark Angels army the Deredeo would be even more invaluable than to the vanilla codex due to the DA codex's lack of "core" Heavy Support AA options like Stormravens or Hunters/Stalkers.

Lords of War

• Azrael, Supreme Grand Master - The closest thing Dark Angels have to the traditional "guy who costs as much as a Land Raider", and thus was turned into a Lord of War with the 7th Edition update in the style of Calgar, Grimnar, and Dante, yet without the addition of Eternal Warrior. His statline is the same as the Space Marine Chapter Master, albeit with a 2+ Save and full blown 5+ FnP nowadays. His Lion's Helm gives him and the members of any squad he joins a 4+ Invulnerable Save, which is quite handy, and he also swings an S+2 master-crafted Power Sword. Oh, and he carries a master-crafted Combi-Plasma (no longer causes blinding) and a Bolt Pistol for +1 CC attack. Despite not being a combat monster to match Calgar, Dante or Logan, he's been buffed as a support character and the entire detachment uses his leadership of 10 (not that this will affect Stubborn/AKSKNF/Fearless Dark Angels that often, but is still a nice bonus to have), he can choose his warlord trait from the Dark Angels specific table instead of having to roll and, finally, he now gets to modify Seize the Initiative rolls by one.
  • Beacon of Hope (Apocalypse) - If Azrael uses his finest hour within 18" of Chaos models in Apocalypse, he causes Fear, grants friendly units within 24" Fearless and Counter Attack as well as granting the standard Dark Angels benefit of the Hail of Fire strategic asset by making all Space Marines Bolt weapons on his side (Dark Angels or not) become twin-linked for the turn. While Fear is fairly "meh", everything else he gets makes him one of the most effective supreme warlords in Apocalypse games consisting of joint forces.

• Fellblade - This is your THIRTEEN BARRELS OF HELL, + 1BS.The Fellblade mounts a turret mounted twin 'accelerator cannon' which can fire either high explosive rounds (100" range, S8 AP3 ord1 7" blast) or armour piercing shells (100" range, heavy 1, S9 AP2, Armourbane, 3" blast). Add to that 2 quad lascannons, a twin heavy bolter and a hull demolisher cannon and you have an absolutely rapetastic monster.

• Thunderhawk Gunship - There is only one reason why you don't already have one, it costs a shitload of cash(£399), apart from this... small price... the Thunderhawk has virtually no downsides, at 700 points it's certainly expensive, and it doesn't have much armour (12,12,10) but it does have 3 structure points and is immune to the 'melta' special rule. It's title of gunship is well deserved, it has a turbo laser (yes a fucking strength D weapon with a 5" blast!!!), four twin-linked heavy Bolters, two Lascannons and 6 weapon pylons, which can contain bombs or Hellstrike missiles. It also has a "modest" transport capacity of 30, so you can hold an entire 10 man squad of Terminators in this thing AND a techmarine and servitors to keep the thing running (they ARE allowed to repair vehicles they're embarked on, awesome). As the most expensive super heavy vehicle in the space marines armoury, you will almost never even see one, let alone field more than one, fortunately, you only need one. The best way to use this vehicle is to get close combat Terminators right into the middle of the enemies most dangerous shooting formation, then use the fearsome weapons on the gunship to destroy enemy vehicles that can insta-kill your guys, allowing your Terminators to destroy the shooty infantry and keep your grunts alive. Used properly this vehicle WILL make your opponent shit bricks, used improperly, it will do nothing but die uselessly as it gets pummeled by 700 points worth of enemy lascannons, rockets, missiles, battle cannon and lances, then it will explode and take the most of the rest of your army with it, because of this NEVER EVER keep it static, it's tempting to just hang back and pummel the enemies vehicles with the turbo laser, but don't.

• Thunderhawk Transporter - Get this if you if you have a burning desire to kneel down and sacrifice your money to the gods of Games Workshop. It costs the same amount of cash as the regular thunderhawk, and you'll probably end up wishing you had one of those instead. It's not that the transporter is awful, the ability to fly in a loaded up land raider and place it where you want is cool, you can even scoop up other vehicles while in hover mode without having to cease your movement. But unless you are playing on REALLY big gaming tables (we're talking the same size of games where Earthshaker guns run out of range.), there's no real need to do this and your Thunderhawk itself doesn't have much else to do with only a few heavybolters for its defense. Just get the regular Thunderhawk and for now and you'll feel less guilty.

• Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer - An odd superheavy tank. Its weapon is S10 AP1, but has no blast, so if you miss there's no consolation prize by accidentally wiping out a nearby unit (it is twin linked, so you're unlikely to miss). However, whatever it hits is raped. It fires D3 shots every time it fires and anything that somehow survives a penetrating hit from it can only snap-fire next turn (including other superheavies... neutering that poor emperor class titan.) but if it fails a penetrate ROLL (glances are fine) or to-wound its target (remember it's a primary weapon, so already gets re-rolls), it instead damages itself by an automatic hull point on a further roll of 1. It can be given the standard predator sponsons or pintle mounted heavy weapons, but you're probably going to want to load up on anti-tank and leave anti infantry to your other units.

• Typhon Heavy Siege Tank - It's a giant vindicator. Cheaper and better armoured than the Fellblade and more reliable than the Cerberus. It fires off a 7" Blast S10 AP1 weapon, which ignores cover, and so will erase entire units on 2s unless they have invulnerable saves. Can also be equipped with sponsons like a predator and pintlemounted options including heavy bolters, or a multi-melta. And unlike the Cerberus, since your main gun doesn't fill an uber specialised role you can choose what you want and split your fire to shoot in all directions and pick your targets by relevance. Also give it armoured ceramite so it can never be killed by melta & lances.

Dedicated Transports

Virtually identical to Ultramarines, so if you understand those then nothing much has changed.

• Rhino - A great transport, and dirt cheap. They can become a shield wall once you've dropped off the squad riding inside, and can attempt to repair themselves in the shooting phase. In a Deathwing/Ravenwing list, these will see very little use.
• Razorback - A Rhino with the transport capacity lowered, but with a big gun stuck onto it to compensate. Great for ferrying around Command Squads. The cheapest option is to keep the heavy bolter or switch it with a twin linked heavy flamer. But an extra heavy gun for only 20 points is almost never points misspent as razorbacks can be used in the same roll as a predator if you have a shortage of points or have run out of heavy support options. Dark Angels Razorbacks can also be equipped with a twin linked assault cannon in addition to all the other gun options you can choose. This gives you a lot of budget firepower and even more options for this little box. pair up the assault cannon with a flak missile equipped devastator squad to make absolutely positively certain that your opponents flying, vector striking, marine melting hell drake dies on turn one! (If they have a heldrake on the board turn one, something has gone very, very wrong). Also makes a good addition in the Lionsblade Strike Force with a full battlecompany. you can get 10 of these for free or for 200 points if you get a weapon uppgrade. just stick 5 man squads with flamers in them and keep the devastator squads in the back with that mandatory scout squad.
• Drop Pod - Enters play via Deep Strike and only mishaps if it goes completely off the board. Great for dropping a suicide Dreadnought behind a tank that needs liquidation. Also to keep in mind, is our Drop Pods have Drop Pod Assault. Pretty much when a Drop Pod successfully comes out of reserve, another one can come on the board without the need to roll for it. Good if you combine Assault Marines with Flamers and a Dreadnaught, as you can do some pretty good damage.
• Lucius Pattern Drop Pod (Forge World) - big dreadnought drop pod, the new IA:A put it back into a dedicated transport role and nerfed it incredibly. No longer can your close combat rape dreads charge out of it on the turn it arrives, (though oddly, the rules say that dreadnoughts CAN charge out of it if they decide to remain embarked for a turn, which it could do anyway since it's already an open topped transport, but might be a good idea since your opponent will have to shoot their way through the drop pod before hitting the Dreadnought) and now it just grants itself and its passenger the Shrouded USR the turn it arrives, so now there's a slightly lesser chance of having your dreadnought blown to bits that turn, but only slghtly. Also, this is the only drop pod you can fit Contemptor in. So what? They only Contemptor you'd take is the Mortis with 2 Assault Cannons/Autocannons and the Cyclone Missile Launcher anyway. Who needs a pod?

Fortifications

Here are the general tactics for fortifications http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Fortifications

• Aegis Defense Lines: A cheap option to give cover to your gunline Tacs. It comes with a Quad Gun if you pay extra, so you can skyfire whatever tries to bomb the shit out of you from the air. What's not to like? Stick 2 tactical squads behind it, and a command squad with standard of devastation. Laugh as you throw out 80+ bolter shots a turn. (The last bit is no longer accurate as we don't have the Dakka Banner anymore.)

• Skyshield Landing Pad: Meh, it's an okay choice for Dark Angels. The Invulnerable save you can get from it can help, tho for just 30 more pts, an Aegis Defense Lines with a Quad Gun is better.

• Imperial Bastion: Another good choice, comes with a Heavy Bolter on each side and can also take a Quad Gun. You can only fit limited amount inside of it tho, so keep that in mind. Pefect for a Devastator Squad tho.

• Firestorm Reboubt: for 20 points more than the Nephilim you get a dedicated anti-aircraft building. (though you may change either of the Icarus Quad Cannons for different weapons if you own them) with four 96" range interceptor/skyfire lascannon shots. While being forced to fire at BS2 seems like a pain, being twin linked means that you hit approximately 55% of the time, but you can upgrade it to BS3 if you want to pay more points on the machine spirit, but then any enemy aircraft on (or coming on to) the table has to worry about the incredible amount of dakka heading its way since massed S9 AP2 skyfire is extremely rare.

• Wall of Martyrs: Dark Angels already have Stubborn, so there isn't any benefit over the Aegis Defense Line.

• Imperial Bunker: Cheap, tough with 14 armour, and pretty safe to fit a squad in. For true Dark Angels defense, put a tac squad with only bolters inside and put a dakka banner behind or on it. Those 40 bolter shots inside make for a good back-line defense. Throw in an ammo pile inside for extra accuracy and you can bet no troops will wanna get close to your bolter box.
  • Guys, the dakka flag isn't a thing in 7th, remember?

• Fortress of Redemption: This is supposed to be YOUR Fortification, and Unholy shit! This fortress is EXPENSIVE! For the price of A Land Raider, you get a big fortress that grants you generous cover saves, along with other cool stuff. Unless you're doing Tactical squads over Death/RavenWing units, you may want to save your points for something else.

• Plasma Obliterator: Oh my...a simple building at AV14 all around, but has a Plasma Obliterator which fires a 7" Massive Blast at S7 AP2. Want to obliterate its point cost in heavy infantry? Look no further. However, it still gets hot (luckily since it's a fortification it gets a 4+ save against it), and it has a new rule called Plasma Overheat which means if it takes a glancing hit due to Gets Hot! a unit embarked takes D3 randomly allocated wounds (just as with classic gets hot! allow saves)(But too bad the rules for it don't state it has firing points, so there's no point putting a unit inside). You'd think a building the size of a Bastion would have an external cooling system to prevent this fucking rule...still, at 230 points it's quite an expensive Fortification, but oh man will this thing melt hordes, regardless of how good their save is.
  • Consider running with a Devastator Squad hiding out downstairs with 4 Lascannons, now you have anti-tank covered in addition to the anti-horde, heavy infantry melter upstairs.
    • Except remember those rules don't state it has firing points despite how it's modeled.

• Promethium Relay Pipes: 4+ Cover save, like the Aegis but with a special bonus, if a model is armed with a Flamer weapon then it becomes Heavy Torrent if a non-vehicle model's within 2" of a pipe. Remember that your Deathwing and Ravenwing units are relentless, so you they can move and still get the Torrent bonus. Deep strike Deathwing next to a Promethium Relay Pipe for a twin-linked heavy flamer with Torrent!

Formations and Unique Detachments

Lion's Blade Strike Force

In line with the recent 7th Edition releases, Dark Angels get a unique Detachment comprised of Formations. Mostly, it's the same as our Vanilla brothers but with The Unforgiven's unique twists added on top. Special rules are: Everything with Grim Resolve fires Overwatch at full Ballistic Skill. Also, two Battle Demi-companies may combine into a single formation that may purchase Rhino/Razorbacks/Drop Pods for FREE (Same as Vanilla marines). Well harlequins/Swarm Armies aren't winning against these guys anytime soon.

• You need 1+ of the following "Core" choices:
  • Battle Demi-Company (1+): 1 Company Master or Chaplain, 0-1 Command Squads, 0-1 Company Veteran Squads, 3 Tactical Marine Squads, 1 Assault Squad, 1 Devastator Squad, and 0-1 units of Dreadnoughts. Everyone in the Demi-Company gets Objective Secured, just like the Vanilla Demi-company and gets to fire overwatch at BS3 instead of BS2.
• You can have 0-1 of the following "Command" choices:
  • Inner Circle (1 per Battle Demi-Company): Azrael, Belial, Sammael (Who can take Sableclaw instead of Corvex as always), 1 Company Master, 1 Interrogator-Chaplain (who can be traded for Asmodai), or 1 Librarian (who can be swapped for Ezekiel). Pretty much your HQ slot sans Techie.
• You need at least 1 of the "Auxiliary" choices, but there's no hard limit as to how many of them you can take:
  • Ravenwing Attack Squadron: 1 Ravenwing Bike squad, or Attack Bike Squad, and 1 Landspeeder Vengeance or lone normal Landspeeder. They all gain Scout (including the Land Speeder) and if the Land Speeder shoots an enemy and causes a hit, then the Ravenwing Bike/Attack Bike squad gains +1 BS when firing at that target and finally, the whole formation counts as a 12" Teleport Homer for deep striking Deathwing units.
  • Ravenwing Support Squadron: 1 Ravenwing Land Speeder Squadron, plus one Darkshroud or Vengeance. Holy shit... they all get Grim Resolve (wait for it...), Interceptor and Strafing Run. So they're pretty good at shooting. In addition, they have the Ravenshield rule; whenever a friendly Ravenwing unit within 24" is charged, the Support squadron may fire Overwatch (at BS2 because of Grim Resolve) at the offending assaulter, or FULL ballistic skill if taken as part of a Lion's Blade detachment. Granted it only protects your Ravenwing units, who themselves will mostly have twin-linked and/or improved BS overwatch, so any opponent would be stupid to charge you with this around. Tau players may now retrieve their jaws from the floor.
    • Wait! There's more: If you take a Darkshroud, normal Land Speeders gain Shrouded from it because they all form a single vehicle squadron; so the unit would have Stealth and Shrouded for a 4+ cover save in the open, 2+ in cover and rerollable if jinking. Awesome resistance in a unit that also have Deep Strike and Scout (also from the Darkshroud) for silencing ignore cover weapons before they can fire. Forget the bikes, take as many of these formations as you can. You only have to think which weapons your speeders will have.
  • Ravenwing Silence Squadron: 1 Dark Talon and 2 Nephilim Jetfighters. The Stasis bomb of the Dark Talon always hits on-target (forcing a target hit bythem to test Initiative on 2d6, picking the highest), and Slay the Warlord is worth D3 VP when using this formation to aid in eliminating the enemy's Warlord.
  • 10th Company Support: 1-5 Units of Scout Squads. They get Supreme Fire Discipline and... nothing else. In other words, this is just a cheap way to upgrade a Demi Company to a full Lion's Blade Force.
    • If you really want to take Scouts and a Lion's Blade force, consider taking a secondary CAD as well, since Scouts don't get any additional rules beyond Supreme Fire Discipline when taken here, but Scouts are one of those units you'd prefer didn't get charged anyway. You can have them with ObSec instead, plus free slots for those units that you can't really squeeze into the Lion's Blade in the first place (like Black Knights, spare flyers, tanks or FW units)
  • The Hammer of Caliban: 1 Techmarine, 1 Landraider (Schizo, Redeemer, or Crusader. Your choice), and 1 unit of Predators, Vindicators, or Whirlwinds. They get Monster Hunter/Tank Hunter, plus two other rules "Hammer of Heretics" (Techmarine must start the game in the Land Raider, and gives the Land Raider BS5 as long as he's in there) and "Might of the Lion" (all four vehicles count as one vehicle squadron). This is actually kind of a pain to try and take, which we'll get into in a second...
  • Deathwing Redemption Force: Led by Belial, or a Termie Interrogator Chaplain/Company Master/Librarian, 2-5 Deathwing Terminator Squads, and an option for DW Command Squads, Deathwing Knights, and Venerable Dreadnoughts. They get their Preferred Enemy (CSM) back and also gain Take the fight to the Enemy, which should seem familiar if you play Grey Knights (it's basically Battle Focus on the turn they arrive from Deep Strike), as well as choosing in advance which turn they arrive on.
    • Now there are a couple of comparisons to make with the Deathwing Strike Force FOC that you get access to, despite having the same initial prerequisites, especially since the DSF simply allows you to decide whether they pass/fail reserve rolls on a squad by squad basis, as well as being more customisable so you can squeeze in more Knights or Dreadnought rather than more regular squads. However the DSF will NOT be part of your larger Lion Strike Force formation and will therefore not get the Supreme Fire Discipline rule, nor do they get Preferred Enemy. So choose carefully.

Now, as awesome as Supreme Fire Discipline is, Lion's Blade does have limitations you need to consider. First off, there's absolutely zero way to take Black Knights, be it the regular flavor or the Ravenwing Command kind. Second, your options for tanks are very very restrained. You want a Predator? All you have to do is buy an entire Land Raider and Techmarine, plus two more Preds, and park the fucking Raider four inches away at all times. If you actually wanted 5 twin-linked Lascannons, this is great, but otherwise you have a vehicle squadron of things that were never meant to be squadded together. Similarly, if you want ANY Termies at all, you must take a bare minimum of 495 points. Want Deathwing Knights? 730 points up front.

Against Khorne Daemonkin and other assault armies, Lion's Blade is awesome. But if your opponent is going shooty too then stick to your CAD, since it'll let you customize WAY better.

Deathwing Strike Force

So, remember how Shield of Baal has a detachment for Blood Angels that essentially allowed for an all-Vet & Termie army? Well, this happened again, but with FAR less consistency.

1-3 HQ slots, 2-12 Elites, all units in this detachment must have the Deathwing rule or be a dedicated transport (also no dreadnought squadrons, but you can take individual venerable dreadnoughts with a drop pod) If taken with some Ravenwing Attack Squad/Strike Force, you can then choose when you can Deep Strike, and then when you do, they can run and shoot in any order. Oh, and a mandatory WT re-roll. The problem with this detachment is that unlike the BA Archangels detachment, ALL units (no exceptions) within the DSF must begin the game in Deep Strike Reserve. So that means no Land Raider dedicated transports since they cannot Deep Strike, and it also means there is no way to play solo Deathwing terminators without any kind of support, because you'd have nothing on the table on turn one, and automatically lose the game.

You could still use this as a solo army though, since half of your Drop Pods still have the ability to arrive on turn one, so getting your Dreadnoughts on the table with locator beacons not only becomes a necessity, but also a viable tactic. Just bring more than two dreadnoughts, otherwise your opponent will think it's cute when you drop a lone model onto the table in the first turn.

Ravenwing Strike Force

On the other side of the spectrum, you have the Ravenwing detachment. This is almost like the Dark Eldar Realspace Raiders, except on Astartes-grade hax considering how good Ravenwing got. 1-3 HQ, 2-12 Fast Attack, with an optional Elites slot and 2 optional HS slots, all for Ravenwing units. Aside from the mandatory WT re-roll (useless - see below), you can also opt to deploy either normally or in reserves, where you automatically arrive Turn 2. Whenever your bikes arrive, they'll be able to go Flat-Out/Turbo-Boost and count as Jinking. And to drive that further, they DON'T have to fire snap-shots, making Sammael's boys even better than normally.

HOWEVER someone forgot to proofread this thing before it went to print. It allows you to take 2 additional HQ choices but only if they have the Ravenwing special rule. Problem is, Sammael is the only HQ choice in the codex that has the rule, everyone else has the Deathwing special rule so can't be used. If you want to use the Ravenwing strike force you have no choice but to take Sammael. (Or ask your opponent permission, depending on what kind of opponents you have)

Also, the ENTIRE detachment must start either on the board or in reserves, and as flyers must start the game in reserves that means if you want to bring your sweet new Dark Talons along as part of your RW force then all of your bikes have got to wait on the sidelines with them - which means you have the same problem as the Deathwing, and can't run a single detachment that icludes flyers without auto-tabling yourself at the end of turn 1. (You sure about that? Read: "All of the units in this Detachment must either be placed in reserve or deployed AS NORMAL." As far as I know, it is normal to leave flyers in reserve whilst your bikes deploy on the table, so that doesn't necessarily mean you have to auto-table yourself turn 1.)

Note: as per GW customer support, this detachment is supposed to allow any Dark Angels character mounted on a bike as well, but does not give them the Ravenwing rule. They also promised that an errata will be published. This ruling can't be used in tournament setting since it's not an official FAQ, but should give you an idea where things will go with the FAQ published.

Others

• Cypher (Dataslate/Limited Edition Codex) - NO IDIOT, YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM. However he is worth a substantial mention in that if any of your opponents bring him, you Dark Angels players get a few benefits to even the playing field. DO NOT FORGET THEM.

1. All Deathwing Members get Hatred (Everyone) and are now stand-in Chaplains and your army got a little bit better in melee. Also this Hatred is not lost if Cypher is defeated.
2. If Cypher goes down anywhere within D6" of one of your Dark Angels, you get D3 Victory Points at the end of the battle, possibly a game winner. Most of your special characters can comfortably take him down in close combat (especially with Hatred). If you're not aiming directly for him you are obviously a TRAITOR AND MUST BE PURGED.
3. Do not forget that your opponent's Warlord's leadership is reduced by one just for including Cypher. This can be extremely important for things like Perils of the Warp, Officer Orders or simple Leadership bubbles. Unfortunately now that you know the weaknesses of the fallen, the Deathwing will be at your door momentarily to either purge or recruit you.

• Unrelenting Hunt (Dataslate) - Company Master, Librarian, Tac Squad, Deathwing Terminators, Deathwing Knights, Ravenwing squad, Black Knights, and a Dark Talon. How convenient of Games Workshop to put together a formation which just so happens to include the contents of Dark Vengeance and the Dark Vengeance Expansion....its not all good news, as this formation is pretty useless. The ability to re-roll charge ranges are great, but it's only when you face Chaos Space Marines, and the auto pass on leadership is nice but with Ld 8/9 and Stubborn, morale is hardly the Dark Angels' weak spot. Altogether not terrible, as you get relentless on your tacs & characters, but just another scam from Geedubs to push Dark Vengeance sales.

• Librarius Conclave (Dataslate) - You need Ezekiel + 2-4 Librarians. Though they don't need to be deployed as a single unit and can be spread around your force. When it comes round to your Psychic Phase, you choose one model in the formation who sucks up all the collective power and automatically knows all the psychic powers of each other member within 12" of himself and in addition can harness warp charges on 3+. The downside to this is the other librarians under his area of effect cannot cast powers at all, so can cause problems with respect to power ranges and actually being able to cast things. As a final added bonus, Mind Worm doubles its range so long as there are librarians within 12" of Ezekiel, with the retooled Mind Worm, this is extremely deadly. This is a very good formation because it not only allows you to take multiple Librarians, but with good positioning, avoiding repeating disciplines (and accounting for Daemonology & Psychic Focus) you can have one psyker with knowledge of sixteen different psychic powers from FIVE disciplines and a pool of up to 17 warp charges available (not counting non-formation psykers) who can let rip an absolute torrent of psychic abuse to rival that of any other psyker in the game... Eldrad/Ahriman/Fateweaver can bite it.

• Masters of the Chapter (Apocalypse) - Azrael + 4-10 Captains + "Honour Guard". From the outset, this doesn't look like theres a lot going for it. Azrael's Lion Helm is made redundant since all the captains have Iron Halos, and unlike Codex Marines you don't get uber wargear to beef up your captains. However, since you don't have Honour Guard the same way as Codex Marines or Blood Angels do, you can improvise with the next best thing ("Forging the Narrative" in Apocalypse suggests taking the closest relevant unit)... ie: a Deathwing Command Squad. This is actually considerably harder now, since they all get 4++ saves from Azrael (saving some expense if you don't want Storm Shields), Feel No Pain from an Apothecary and use of good Standards and Champions. Just don't add Sammael to the formation since it will screw him over.

• Deathwing Redemption Force (Apocalypse) - Belial and 6 Squads of regular Deathwing & 4 Squads of Deathwing Knights. This is one of the most badass formations available. You don't need "full" squads, so can get away with having a formation of around 50 men (which is therefore smaller than the 1st company formation). EVERYONE in the formation gets Rending USR on ALL attacks, shooting and melee, making them horrifying. Also, no-one can take look-out-sir rolls against this formation, so there is literally no-where to hide from these guys. Most likely replaced by the Lion's Blade DRF which instead grants them "Battle Focus" and gives them back Preferred Enemy: Chaos Space Marines.

• Ravenwing Huntmasters (Apocalypse) - 5 FULL Ravenwing Attack squadrons + 1 squad of Black Knights + as many Darkshrouds as you like. Both of the shrouds effect ranges are doubled for the game and also you may turbo-boost and still shoot once per game. It's an okay formation if you have enough Ravenwing, which is the problem. That's a lot of bikes.

Warzone Damnos

• Suppression Force (Apocalypse) - Worth a good mention since you get 2+ Whirlwinds and a Land Speeder of your choice. Considering you get some pretty cool Land Speeder options, you could go with a Darkshroud for some survivability along with your unlimited range / twin-linked / double-shot Whirlwinds. Or you could go one better and take the Ravenwing Grand-Master's Land Speeder for AV14 & 4++ and its own twin-linked weapons.

Warzone Pandorax

• Talon of Vengeance (Apocalypse) - You get 1 Nephilim and 2-4 Dark Talons. The Nephilim does nothing here, and the Dark Talons can combo their stasis bombs to lock enemy units out of the game temporarily. The length of time depending on how many bombs hit the unit. This formation isn't really worth it unless you're dropping all those bombs on a Reaver Titan or better to freeze it out of the game for a turn. The problem is that you only get one bomb per talon and the pay-off really doesn't change the game in any meaningful sense. Should have had greater effect like freezing units out permanently like Lukas the Trickster

• Thunderhead Squadron (Apocalypse) - 3 Darkshrouds, 1+ Vengeance & 1+ Support Squadron. Whenever 2 Shrouds are within 6" of each other your opponent will not be allowed to draw line of sight through the space between them. This is also close enough to grant 2+ jink (feel free to just perma-jink; they're Speeders in Apocalypse). In addition the whole formation gets shrouded (for the aforementioned 2+ jink) and scout regardless of their position, so can be pretty cool. Imagine stopping a shooty army from even targeting the entire rest of your army on turn 1? Yeah, it's as awesome as it sounds.

Allies

Battle Brothers

• Black Templar: Now part of Vanilla Marines, but don't stop there. Black Templars have gotten better now they have access to the new shiny stuff Vanilla gets. Plus they still kept some of their traditional feats (Land Raider Crusaders are still Dedicated Transports to Crusader Squads). Crusader Squads are the Beatstick, throw in some Neophyte with Shotguns and they can be both a Dakka and chopy unit. Combine this with the Flyers they have, it makes them somewhat a versatile ally choice. Although if you want pure melee punch, Blood Angels can do this better. Still, Black Templars are not a bad choice.

• Blood Angels: Probably the best CQC Allies for the DA. A lot of their units are fast moving and hits foes really hard and they aren't bad at shooting. But in all honesty, we have a lot of options to gun Xenos/Heretics down dead, so you should just focus on stuff that rapes in melee and shit like that. Sadly, sanguinary priests blood chalice works only with BA units, so no FNP and Furious Charge to your Deathwing knights. However Shield of Sanguinius works with all units and Darkshroud gives Stealth to all friendly units, not only DA ones. So you can give all your army a nice +4 cover save. FNP Fearless Marines with 4++ save and maybe pseudo Fleet from Azrael are great also.

• Imperial Guard: A great opportunity of mending the fails of your Codex. Forget flakk missiles, Dark Talons and Nephilim Fighters, just paint black a Vendetta, draw some feathers on the wings and call it Dark Vendetta, for instance. You can even take a squadron of 2 or 3. And,of course, you can take a blob of guards, join Azrael and have 30-50 miniatures with ++4 save, Fearless, and Furious Charge. Weeee!
  • On top of the beautiful piece of Blob+Azrael trolling, the Darkshroud can be combined with Imperial Guard vehicles given camo netting and the new Bullgryns with slabshields for a 2+ mobile cover save.

• Vanilla Marines: They're basically the exact same as Dark Angels: shooty and power armor. Hell, Greenwing are identical in points and near-identical in loadout. The new Codex brought in new units like Centurions and decent anti-aircraft tanks in addition to the units that Dark Angels couldn't get in the first place, like half-decent aircraft, masters of the forge, sternguard & vanguard veterans, ironclad dreadnoughts, scout bikers, thunderfire cannons as well as detachment-wide chapter tactics, all of which allows you to tailor any allies detachment to make up for any deficiencies in your own force. Or vice versa to make things extra interesting. Also, don't miss Chapter Master Smashbane, which is damn good HtH unit in Ravenwing and Greenwing.
  • Siege Assault Vanguard: actually a better choice for you than using the vanilla codex since there is less overlap with the things you can already do. As for the special siege objective; Dark Angels already have scoring bikes and terminators covered to secure that objective early so you can use the vanguard list to fill in the gaps with vehicle/dreadnought squadrons or extra Centurions if you were that way inclined. If you feel dirty about having to include an extra chapter just to get access to models you otherwise could not use (such as Stormravens / Ironclad Dreads) then just paint them Green anyway and use the sub-optimal Astral Claws tactic which is practically the same as greenwing anyway, though best use of the vanguard does depend on better tactic selections.

• Grey Knights: Generally the same as our Deathwing, except they're psychic-aholic rather than Gunzerker. We can bring Terminators as troops like they do, except theirs are basically cheaper unless they go overboard with them. Overall there are better options, but taking them can be fun if you're going against CSM and Daemons, so you can take on the Chaos Marines, and the Grey Knights can rape Daemons REAL hard!

• Sisters of Battle: A surprisingly good choice fluffwise as well as crunchwise. Angry battle nuns fighting with angry battle monks? Looks like sunday school let out early this week. The current Act of Faith system and unit size requirements has made MSU and Immolator-spam viable strategies, both of which are solid choices for an allied detachment. For Dark Angels specifically they bring a lot to the table: strong mobile close combat, ally with sisters and bring Saint Celestine and some seraphim. The Avenger strike fighter is a good choice, as is the Exorcist. And lastly who doesn't want to get the Sisters chocolate flamers all up into our plasma peanut butter? Plus every Imperial ally wants to get their hands on the Dominions cover-ignoring Meltaguns, and now we can stick them in a Drop Pod, if a Scouting Multi-Melta Immoltator isn't good enough for you.

• Skitarii: Early impressions show there's a good deal to like, Troop choices are decent with enough and the Vanguard's Plasma Calivers will make your Angel's giddy. The Elite and Fast Attack choices look like they'll play very nicely with your Ravenwing army being incredibly quick and can keep up with the advance of the army and able to move into a combat just as your bikes have hit and run. The Sydonian Dragoons especially seem like they'll mesh very well with Ravenwing. Heavy Support gives you a boon in the Onager Dunecrawler and its Icarus Array for 125 points gives you a Missile Launcher, a 5-shot Gatling rocket launcher and an Autocannon all with Skyfire, and if you don't have that Mortis Contemptor or Deredeo, this is a good looking budget option.

• Space Wolves: New allies rules make Space Wolves battle brothers, and with the new codex we have some new synergies to consider. Lets see what wolfies offer to us: Jaws of the World Wolf is now Focused Witchfire, so a stasis grenade or five can help pick off those characters. Bjorn gives you +1 on the seize, which with Deathwing Assaults and Scouts moves could be important. Wolves also have cool new fliers, which have the same schitzoid loadout problems as Angels fliers but at least have Assault Vehicle. Azrael with 15 Blood Claws with 4++ save, Fearless and Furious Charge inside a Stormwolf is a thing that exists. They also have cheap servos with the possibility of taking one special weapon on 5 man squads, razorspam, scoring terminators with mixed arms, missile spam, divided fire and giant wolverine steeds. Pretty solid, but Dark Angels can achieve most of those things on their own, and instead of wolves have bikes which look less stupid in the future.

Allies of Convenience

• Eldar: The jetbike units and Wave Serpents are FUCKING AMAZING and make an excellent pairing with the Ravenwing. You could also use Fire Dragons mounted in a Falcon for some forward-ranging tank or monster killing power, or to punch out a squad capable of usefully tank-tarpitting Deathwing Knights. Not to mention the Wraithbone units got buffed into the stratosphere with Destroyer Weapons out the ass.

Desperate Allies

• Tau Empire: Not a bad choice, especially since they just got a new codex. As usual, their basic philosophy is "extra fire power that can help wreck shit at long range". The Crisis suits are golden, and goes well with a Ravenwing list, as they're both mobile and shooty with Plasma Rifles and other useful weapons. Hammerheads are also a worthwhile choice if you choice the Railgun option, and fire warriors with their Pulse Rifles will prove to be better than the Boltgun. Play them correctly, and the enemy won't be alive to get close enough. They should be too occupied to be dealing with Fire Warriors, at the least. Unless you're going plasma-heavy, as they are probably the one army with more plasma than you (take a Hammerhead with tau Ion Cannon and disruption pods. Do it!). Ion has been introduced, and it is soooo much better. Ion Cannon now has a new trick up its sleeve. At S8 AP3 Large Blast when overcharged, nothing short of a TEQ will get an armour save. They also have the best long-range anti-tank in the game, so they can provide fire support for your Spess Mehreens. (Look to Riptide if you're interested in Long Range Support).
• Dark Eldar: They are really speedy, but you also potentially have Ravenwing, so One Eye Open is a little more pronounced working alongside the emo relatives of the Craftworlders. However, if you're running Deathwing lists then use these guys as distractions while you get your Deathwing into position!

Come the Apocalypse

• Necrons: Another shooty list aside from Tau and Guards. Necrons can provide you a catacomb command barge beatstick, something sufficiently terrifying to keep your enemy from moving into assault for an extra round or two (especially if they're using an expensive HQ choice). Necron troops choices can serve as highly efficient response groups, combining four haywire shots and ten rapid-fire gauss zaps with one of the most universally effective fliers in the game for a meager 190 points. Would you rather have two terminators and one assault cannon, or one annihilation barge (90 points for a tesla destructor, tesla cannon, and AV13 until they start beating on it)? To put the cherry on top, none of these units really need or want to be close to the rest of your army, so you can easily step around the one eye open rule. Want an ally that can give you your daily doses of speed, anti-armor, and AP2 melee without stealing all your thunder(points)? Look no further than these badass space Egyptians.

• Orks: Want a horde? The orks love pushy melee fighting. Though they might be slow, a footslogged group of standard ork boys can shield your more powerful and expensive units with a wall of cheap meat. They'll provide a screen against assaults (which your troops can then jump in on, if you so desire), and a 5+ cover save. The one eye open rule is pretty irritating here, but 6th edition's premeasuring rule should let you keep that separation, and even if you can't... well, it's only a 1/6 chance anyway, and it doesn't occur in melee combat.

• Tyranids: If you want a horde army, Orks just do it better. The new releases for Tyranids means that One Eye Open isn't as much of an issue as you can just deepstrike all your Tyranid stuff in with their bio-organic drop pods and shit.

• The Forces of Chaos: WHAT?! YOU'RE WORKING ALONGSIDE THE FALLEN AND THE MONSTROSITIES OF THE WARP?! Yep. You can have Chaos Space Marines and Chaos Daemons as allies at Come the Apocalypse levels.

Other Detachments

Inquisition (Battle Brothers)

If you don't care about the fluff, why haven't you taken it yet? Seriously, you get 3 Elites Choices (Read: 3 units of Inquisitorial Henchmen) and each of them can take a transport like a Rhino, or a Chimera or a Land Raider or a Valkyrie. That makes it worth it right up front, but with the right load out, they can fill holes in your army, so this should be your first choice right here.

• Inquisitorial Valkyries make up for the Dark Angel's immediate lack of aerial transport options (outside of a Storm Eagle or Caestus Ram) letting you move tactical squads around the tabletop far quicker than in Rhinos.
• Inquisitor detachments can take a Land Raider Prometheus as a dedicated transport, this saves your primary detachment from using up an Elites slot which should be put to best use on Deathwing and Dreadnoughts. Inquisitorial Land Raiders also get Truesilver armour that provides daemon defense and warp stabilisation fields for teleport shenanigans.
• Servo-Skulls and Mystic henchmen work really well alongside Deathwing, but also alongside Drop Pods and Assault Squads. While Ravenwing do get teleport homers, having Inquisitor stuff works on all deep striking units and also give you more table coverage for incoming units, particularly on the first turn for Deathwing Assault.
• Consider taking a Inquisitor in a Valkyrie and a tarpit or two of Acolytes, while still having a full artillery battery from allied guard and doing some screening with large blocks of bolter brothers; or a four lascannon Devastator squad buffed by a psyker Inquisitor with a Conversion Beamer. If there's something your current army is lacking, the Inquisition has something that can compensate for it.

Imperial Knights (Battle Brothers)

An Errant Knight titan is probably a good bet for players looking for some reliable long range anti-tank/anti-TEQ killer. The Paladin Knight brings some long range high strength high AP shooting (Double shot battle cannon? Hell yeah) to an army that can really use some for only two termies more than two Leman Russ Tanks. And thanks to 7th edition rules updates these things now score no matter what detachment they are a part of, so charge him at the enemy lines faster than you can say DISTRACTION CARNIFEX. Thanks to their Str. D CC arm, they can reliably deal with with most monstrous creatures with ease, barring Skarbrand and maybe a Wraithknight. Also, Seer/Screamer-Star or any other re-rollable 2+ bullshit? Meet D-Weapon. If you fight a Riptide heavy list, these might become your best friend you still cannot catch the fuckers. Bitch please, you have a 12 movement and a 2D6 charge. The Riptide has a 6 move and a 2D6 jump, and limited space to escape with given how they'll be hiding at the back like sissies. Plus, they're shit at killing the Knight.

Legion of the Damned (Battle Brothers)

Because it is now a Codex in its own right, Dark Angels can troll themselves by taking mysterious Astartes who appear out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. You couldn't take them before, so now this is a treat. Like the Inquisition codex, the LotD can be taken as an additional detachment separate from the Allied detachment. More over, the detachment has a min of 1 elite, so there is no unit taxes, as you pay for exactly what you want.

You only have one unit, but you can bring up to 4 of them. You get Fear, Fearless, Slow and Purposeful, 3++, and all shooting Ignores Cover. Yes, all of it, including any special or heavy weapons. They are also one of the 2 units that can take Heavy Flamers. As a Dark Angel you will be used to things Deep Striking, meaning you can one-two punch a combination following a Deathwing Assault. On the downside they can't be joined by Independent Characters (not that you'd need to) and you don't care about chapter tactics, since that is a vanilla thing. Unfortunately everything these guys do, your Deathwing can also do and in some cases do better, and in many cases your terminators can score while 3++ is just as vulnerable to high volumes of high AP fire (lasguns/bolters) as Greenwing are. The big draw here is Ignores Cover, which when coupled with the flexible armament of a tactical squad essentially makes them just that: A very good alternative to a Tactical Squad.

• Animus Malorum: Sergeant Centurius' soul-eating skull gives the bearer and his unit FnP, and any unit which fails a Fear, Morale, or Pinning check within 12" of the bearer has a randomly chosen model immediately removed as a casualty with no saves allowed (although LoS! can still be used). Every model that is removed this way grants a +1 modifier to the FnP roll (up to a 2+) for the remainder of that turn. At only 35 points for a sergeant to use it, it's a steal.
• With the increasing amount of low AP weaponry that cover ignoring, these guys have some merit. They can hold objectives and mow things down. Strike them near things with low AP weapons (Give them a Plasma Cannon to see S7 AP 2 Ignores Cover Blast) or the backfield and watch them turn firefights around. They will die to massed fire (But then again, what in this game doesn't?) but can tank low volume high power hits. Sure, you can minmax a list and leave them at home but how many of you are playing in world class tournaments and need 1d4chan tactics? They are good, but not uber. Most of all, they are fun.
• Pro-Tip: You can use them as mobile cover for any troops and/or assault screens, especially if they have the Animus and/or rolled Spectral Bulwark.
• Do you like Plasma Spam? Do you hate how your opponent always hug cover against your Plasma guns? These guys can take Plasma Cannons and ignore cover. Have them come in when your opponent scurries their heavy infantry into cover, then as he gloats about your cannons becoming expensive frag missiles, poof these guys in and remind him of their Ignores Cover ability.

Building your army

Two Troops and an HQ is your starting point as always. We recommend two tactical squads and something with a psychic hood.

Secondly, get the new fucking codex! Sometimes you'll see people playing Dark Angels with the Vanilla Codex. In 5th Edition this was fine, but in 7th Edition these people are heretics. Smack them up the head for me if you see them! Otherwise, the Dark Vengeance box set is a good place to start for models. For about 100 US dollars (£61.50 British pounds), you get 5 Terminators, 3 awesome looking bikers, and a tactical squad with two (maybe 3 if you're lucky enough to get the limited edition) HQs if possible swap the chaos marines for more angels this gives you 10 terminators, 6 bikers, 4 HQ and 2 troops that can be made with 2 plasma guns or 2 plasma cannons. That, or get the new Dark Angels Dark Vengeance expansion (1 Dark Talon/Nephilim Jet Fighter, a Squad of Deathwing Terminators/Knights/Command Squad, and a squad of Ravenwing Black Knights/Command Squad) for $140 USD. Remember the phrase "Up-sell scheme", folks!

If you want a relatively cheap way of getting an Attack Bike, Black Knights, and Sammael, grab the new Dark Angels Battleforce ($100 USD) which contains said BK, Attack Bike, and Landspeeder with Ravenwing Upgrade Sprue. Just stick the book and Hooded Icons on it and build the Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter and Assault Cannon, modelling the passenger guy with a Sword to represent Sammael.

Forge World Units

It has to be noted that the new codex (and by extension the vanilla codex too) is NOT conducive to fielding units from Forge World at all, at least until FW come out with some sort of FAQ or update to help with the situation. None of the Formations that the Dark Angels use have provision for taking them and neither of the new Ravenwing/Deathwing FOCs actually allow you to take anything either. (except for the Lucius Pattern Drop Pod as a dedicated transport option).

However, those of us with Forge World units need not feel trapped with models we cannot use.

The Combined Arms Detachment hasn't actually gone anywhere, you could easily field a secondary CAD separately from your Lion's Blade Strike Force and give yourself lots of free slots to further customise your army. Furthermore, with the price drop on Scouts and the fact that they gain no specific rules when used as 10th Company Support in the Lion's Blade formation, you can take those Scout squads and a HQ of your choice and use them to fulfill the minimum requirements of a CAD without interfering with the points you would have already spent anyway, only losing Supreme Fire Discipline and giving them back Objective Secured (only the Demi-Company units get Objective Secured).

Tactics

Greenwing is now so much more attractive thanks to the Lion's Blade Strike Force and the benefits a Demi-Company gives you (BS3/4 overwatch? Well, shoot my monkey!).

Ravenwing are awesome, with Relentless Grav-Guns and re-rollable Jinking. By far the most badass bikers in the Imperium, and they still have all their old tricks from the last Codex (Teleport Homers everywhere, a Land Speeder granting your units mobile Stealth),

Deathwing are the only part of this equation that probably lost more than was given with the current Codex, no more Turn 1 Deepstriking, nor the ability to choose when you Deepstrike without rolling for it. You now have to take the Deathwing Strike Force detachment and the Ravenwing Attack Squadron formation or the Ravenwing Strike Force detachment for the latter ability. Still, the old stratagems work.

Psychic

The Dark Angels have access to almost all rulebook powers plus their unique Interromancy discipline, which stops them from taking Biomancy. No Eternal Warrior, +3 S/T/I/A Librarian, but them's the breaks. Good choices are:

• Interromancy: WHY AREN'T YOU TAKING THIS?! Seriously, the ability to permanently drop your opponent to WS/BS1? Turn rape machines like Marneus Calgar and Abaddon the Despoiler into wimpering, expensive paper weights that can do sweet fuck all? Want to punish armies with low leadership? Dark Angels are the masters of Psychic trolling, baby!
• Telepathy: Also an amazing choice, with the infamous Invisibility Power which you cast on your most important unit that the enemy cannot ignore, and Psychic Shriek also being a pretty damn good Primaris Power.
• Divination: Equally tied with Telepathy for the second-choice discipline. BS2 Overwatch is fucking A already, and the Lion's Blade full BS overwatch is top notch. Adding re-rolls to hit from Prescience? Goodbye Genestealers, goodbye Ork boyz, goodbye Khorne units. Forewarning, Perfect Timing, and Misfortune are also awesome powers. Foreboding's full BS overwatch is literally useless if using Lion's Blade, but if you're using CAD or Unbound, then it's worth something.
• Sanctic Daemonology: If you luck out and roll Sanctuary, you just may be able to get a 3++ with a Conversion Field, or cast with a unit of Deathwing Knights for a T5, 2++ unit. Hammerhand is good too. However, beware of rolling Perils on any doubles when trying to manifest powers!!!

Army Variants

• Land, Sea, and Air: A classic set-up from the 6th Edition Codex. 2+ squads of Ravenwing Bikes (1 Scouting up the field, the other Outflanking), some Deathwing Terminators, and Tactical Marines and Devastators lining up for long ranged support. This approach gives you speed and resilient units, precision deepstriking from Ravenwing Teleport Homers while your Devastators back you up with Missile Launchers, and your Tactical Marines take the objectives and dare the enemy to dig out BS2 Overwatching, Stubborn SPEHS MUHREENS. Hit them from the land (Greenwing), Sea (Ravenwing), and Air (Deathwing). A really good optional thing to do is to give 2 Bikers Grav-guns, and your sarge a Combi-Grave in each of your Ravenwing Squads since Bikers have Relentless. For 8 Melta bombs extra per squad, 9 shots that hit on 3s wounding on 3+ or 2+ and Concussing a Monstrous Creature before charging is damn well worth it. Even better if you concussed the MC as it was charging thanks to BS2 Overwatch.

• FUCK YOU AND YOUR LOGIC: Literally take 1 Librarian on Interromancy on a bike, give him Shroud of Heroes and a Conversion Field, an on-foot Techmarine, and fill up the rest of your point allotment with Dark Talons and an Imperial Bastion with Comms Relay to hide behind. Pray your Librarian survives while staying out of LoS with a 2+ Cover Save. Keep the Techmarine on the Comm's Relay. Hopefully once you've survived to turn 2, roll some dice, look up, and smirk. Watch as fucktons of flying Vindicators that can potentially dish out the big "D" fly on and pulverize the shit out of the enemy. This is by no means tactically sound, and any enemy with decent AA (Tau) or Gunships (Vendetta Squadrons, Storm Talons) will smash your face in. Remember to play this if it works.