Playing Dark Angels: Building a Better Battleforce

One of the hallmarks of the very best players in 40k is their ability to bring an army that looks like a random sample of units from a codex, and continually trounce upon opponents of all skill levels. I don't consider myself quite that good at the moment, but I'd like to think I'm approaching that direction, especially with my primary army: Dark Angels. This actually isn't something that every codex is capable of, at least not in the most competitive scenes. Sure, great generals can take weak codices and do some significant things, but it's almost always due to vast amounts of player skill and an understanding of the army's strengths and weaknesses. Armies with better tools, more efficient tools, and multiple units with similar roles are much more able to pull this off. Right now, I'd probably limit just a few codices in the game to pulling this off really well. Space Marines, Necrons, Imperial Guard, and Dark Angels are the best, with Chaos Space Marines and Space Wolves coming in just behind them (in my opinion). Other codices are extremely competitive, but have very few competitive options.

So what's required to make and play one of these amazing "battleforce" armies? Let's take a look:

Chaos Space Marines with Necron Allies @ 1850

Another distraction on my path to finishing up that Dark Eldar series, this is an idea I had for Chaos Space Marines when another friend was curious about potential uses for allies and trying to figure out a list for CAGE. For this army, I would definitely try a counts-as approach, making all the Necron stuff similar to the new Daemonforged units.

Space Marine Bikes @ 1850

Part 2 of the Dark Eldar article is on the way, I promise. I haven't had much time to type it all up yet. I did, however, respond to someone in the 3++ Chatterbox today to give an idea of where I'd start for a bike-based list under 6th Edition. Here's what I had to say:

Playing Dark Eldar in 6th (Part 1): Hybridization

I've seen many people having trouble with Dark Eldar in 6th Edition, and for good reason. They are perhaps the most fragile army in the game. Orks have individual models that are more vulnerable, but their weight of numbers produces a durability all its own. So how do we go about utilizing this army to its fullest potential? Two things. First, we toss aside the full MSU lists we saw under 5th Edition. Second, we get a little Desperate! This is gonna be long, and spread into multiple posts, so bear with me!

Playing Dark Angels: Allies for Now

When it comes to building a competitive list for 40k, there are many factors you have to plan for in your army list. Most of these boil down to 2 things: mission type and opponent's army composition. 6th Edition has added a new unit type that has become difficult for the Dark Angels to work around: Fliers. There is simply not a unit in the codex with the durability and firepower to handle them on a competitive scale. Your army needs to be capable of dealing with 3-5 opposed fliers in a competitive setting. Sure, the infamous Cron Air (Necron Airforce) can pump out 8-10 fliers, but I expect it will be living a short lifespan and already has some hard counters in some of the more popular armies.

Combine this with an increase in infantry and plasma usage and, and the traditional Dark Angels army (Deathwing) starts having problems. We can increase this capability, but it really comes down to needing to branch out with allies to get the tools we need. When we do this, we find that rather than shoring up DA weaknesses, DAs make the better allies, as the core of Belial and 2 squads of terminators give other armies some great durability and combat-effective units. The army that makes best use of these units and covers our needs most is Imperial Guard. Here is a look at how we would run with Imperial Guard primary with Dark Angels as allies.

Chaos Space Marines @ 1850

I'm helping my friend Alex work up a list for Chaos Space Marines so he can learn the game and get some solid tactics under his belt. He's already got a decent CSM collection, so the following list uses some of the stuff he likes and gets enough shots and bodies on the field to deal with the major problems he might face.

Updating Grey Knights + IG @1850

I've been doing a good bit of playtesting with the Grey Knight + IG list recently posted, and I've been trying out various combinations. The following is the current incarnation, and is pretty well set to be what I am using for the 2013 Alabama CAGE Match provided Dark Angels doesn't give me something more awesome to work with.

You can see the list and my thoughts on it after the break.

Major News! First post for 6th Edition

I know it's been a while since I've posted up anything, but with all the changes going on in the world of 40k, I really didn't have much to add that others weren't already saying. I've also been analyzing the meta with various lists I've seen people discussing. I ran a successful GT last month which utilized double FOC available. I feel I have a solid enough grasp on the game right now to make some statements and lists.

I'm also starting up commission work, and I will soon be putting up lots of pictures of stuff that's in progress or completed. Right now I'm sticking to local work, so if you're anywhere near Rocket City, USA, check out The Foundry and ask about having RayJ do your commission!

With that in mind, here is my first truly competitive army list for 6th Edition. It has a major weakness in the fragility of its troops, but it puts out shots like nothing else. This list is built at 1850 using Grey Knights as the primary army, and Imperial Guard as an allied detachment.

painted by Lukas-the-Trickster

Primary Detachment

• 100 Inquisitor Coteaz
• 63 Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband
  • 3 Warrior Acolytes
  • Razorback
    • Psybolt Ammunition
    • Searchlight
• 63 Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband
  • 3 Warrior Acolytes
  • Razorback
    • Psybolt Ammunition
    • Searchlight
• 63 Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband
  • 3 Warrior Acolytes
  • Razorback
    • Psybolt Ammunition
    • Searchlight
• 63 Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband
  • 3 Warrior Acolytes
  • Razorback
    • Psybolt Ammunition
    • Searchlight
• 63 Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband
  • 3 Warrior Acolytes
  • Razorback
    • Psybolt Ammunition
    • Searchlight
• 136 Dreadnoguht
  • 2 TL Autocannons
  • Psybolt Ammo
  • Searchlight
• 136 Dreadnoguht
  • 2 TL Autocannons
  • Psybolt Ammo
  • Searchlight
• 136 Dreadnoguht
  • 2 TL Autocannons
  • Psybolt Ammo
  • Searchlight

Fortification

• 100 Aegis Defense Line
  • Quad Gun

Allied Detachment

• 70 Primaris Psyker
• 165 Psyker Battle Squad
  • 5 Sanction Psykers
  • Chimera
• 390 Infantry Platoon
  • [115] Platoon Command Squad
    • 4 Flamers
    • Krak Grenades
    • Meltabombs
    • Chimera
  • [125] Infantry Squad
    • Flamer
    • Autocannon
    • Power Axe
    • Meltabombs
    • Commissar
      • Power Axe
  • [80] Infantry Squad
    • Flamer
    • Autocannon
    • Power Axe
    • Meltabombs
  • [80] Infantry Squad
    • Flamer
    • Autocannon
    • Power Axe
    • Meltabombs
• 140 Vendetta
  • Heavy Bolter Sponsons
• 150 Ordinance Battery
  • 2 Griffons

Total: 1848/1850

The list should be pretty straight forward. Use the Platoon Command Squad as a sort of spearhead, usually riding along in the Vendetta. Their Chimera is great for blocking razorbacks and providing a backup transport for the Psykers.

Use Coteaz to man the Quad Gun, and pump S7 shots at anything that enters the table within 12 inches of him, on top of the 1 use of Skyfire/Interceptor each turn.

13 Vehicles is still going to be hard to mess with for most armies, provided you use the IG blob to block assaults properly. Depending on the enemy army, you may want the Primaris Psyker to roll up Biomancy for a chance at Iron Arm or Telepathy for Psychic Shriek. Keeping him with codex powers is also useful for the Lightning Arc.

Combat effectiveness outside the blob is going to be next to nil, along with squad survivability. This list is really relying on ranged firepower to pull most of the weight. Here's a weapon breakdown:

• 1 S* APd6 Large Blast
• 3 S9 AP2
• 12 S8 AP4 Twin-Linked
• 4 S7 AP4 Twin-Linked
• 6 S7 AP4
• 2 S6 AP4 Ordinance Barrage
• 15 S6 AP4 Twin-Linked
• 6 S6 AP-
• 18 S5 AP4
• 7 S4 AP5 Template
• 21 S3 AP- Rapid Fire
• 15 S3 AP- Pistol
• 4 Meltabombs
• 4 Krak Grenades
• 4 Power Axes
• 1 Force Stave
• 1 Nemesis Daemonhammer

Comments, suggestions for improvement, and general critique are all welcome. This list is designed around dealing with mass fliers and large infantry squads, while having enough troops to hold objectives late game.

Playing Dark Eldar: The Ulthwé Rapid Response Fleet (Revised)

The basics behind the list haven't changed much in the past few months, but there are some substantial changes in the details that affect gameplay a good bit. I have a long way to go before I hit the ceiling with Dark Eldar, so I should see marked improvement each time out. Right now this is where the army sits at 2000 points based on playtesting and my current ability to utilize the army.

New Dark Eldar List

After going through lots of blogs and doing some research to make sure I understand the army properly, I've come up with a full 2000 point list ready for conversion. The force is going to be an Ulthwé rapid response unit, utilizing Dark Eldar rules. I won't bore you with the specifics on all the counts-as right now, but rest assured a lot of conversion is going into the force to make it work with the DE ruleset. I have done the modeling for my blaster warriors, sybarites, and haemonculi. I'll get some pictures up after they've been primed.

For now, I'd like to get some feedback on the list itself and see if there are any major improvements that can be made to it. It's very lean and likes to sit back and let the guns do the work, just the way Black Guardians would want it done. Here's how it looks right now:

Grey Knights: Hybrid MSU

It seems like everyone on the blogosphere is putting GKs into list-building mode and spewing out their ideas. Some of it looks solid, some of it looks like crap. Today I'm gonna show off my version, and we'll see where it ends up. I'm looking for some serious analysis in the comments to let me know if I'm just not getting it, but so far this looks promising.

The list comes first, with my thoughts afterwards:

Death Hammer - Post Tournament Series

Over the last two weekends I have played in two tournaments. The first one was at 2000 points, and my army worked its way to a solid 2nd place finish. What is interesting is that I lost a game to the tournament winner, but I accumulated enough battle points in that loss to still make me the clear 2nd place finisher. If I had denied the opponent the primary objective in round 3 (my loss) that would have been a tournament win for me.

My second tournament was the Battle for Stones River which runs a points value of 1863. My army did pretty well there as well up until round 4 when I got my face handed to me by a really good Null Zone based list, again my only loss for the day. I'll admit I made some mistakes in that game, mostly due to my inexperience fighting against Null Zone. My opponent capitalized and that cost me a great finish. Next time I'll need to be a bit more aggressive and strike that librarian as early as possible. As it was, I let him sit around and force me to reroll a ton of saves all game, and that eventually led to a cascade of death upon my terminators in the later rounds.

Overall the two tournaments showed that the core of my list is solid. Mobility played a much bigger impact in the BFSR tournament, and I think I've worked up what is probably going to be my favorite list for the next month. At least until I get my hands on some Grey Knights stuff. I'm making a few changes to the list to add in some better armor threats and increase my mobility. I am still keeping the solid gunline mostly in tact though.

I am moving towards 3 Storm Shields per Deathwing squad in an attempt to increase close combat durability. I have run Belial with both the storm shield and the lightning claws. Both are perfectly valid options. The TH/SS will be better for tackling monstrous creatures, but the lightning claws are a great deterrent vs standard infantry.

here is the updated list:

130 Belial
- Lightning Claws OR Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

290 Deathwing Command Squad
- 1 TH/SS/Cyclone
- 1 TH/SS/Standard Bearer
- 1 TH/SS/Apothecary
- 2 TH/SS

240 Deathwing Squad
- 1 Power Weapon & Storm Bolter
- 1 Chainfist & Storm Bolter
- 1 TH/SS/Cyclone
- 2 TH/SS

240 Deathwing Squad
- 1 Power Weapon & Storm Bolter
- 1 Chainfist & Storm Bolter
- 1 TH/SS/Cyclone
- 2 TH/SS

240 Deathwing Squad
- 1 Power Weapon & Storm Bolter
- 1 Chainfist & Storm Bolter
- 1 TH/SS/Cyclone
- 2 TH/SS

190 Ravenwing Attack Squadron
- 1 Sergeant
- 1 Meltagun & Bolt Pistol
- 1 Meltagun & Chainsword
- 1 Multi-Melta Attack Bike

190 Ravenwing Attack Squadron
- 1 Sergeant
- 1 Meltagun & Bolt Pistol
- 1 Meltagun & Chainsword
- 1 Multi-Melta Attack Bike

140 Ravenwing Attack Squadron
- 1 Sergeant
- 1 Meltagun & Bolt Pistol
- 1 Meltagun & Chainsword

170 Devastator Squad
- 1 Sergeant w/ Bolt pistol & Chainsword
- 4 Missile Launchers

170 Devastator Squad
- 1 Sergeant w/ Bolt pistol & Chainsword
- 4 Missile Launchers

Total: 2000 points.

What we end up here is a list with a LOT more mobility and the ability to inflict significant more damage to enemy armor. We basically trade 4 lascannons and 2 missile launchers for 6 meltaguns and 2 multi-meltas. We get the perfect mix between traditional double-wing and the original Death Hammer's gunline.

We do lose some close combat potential because we dropped a terminator squad, but we also increase the durability of the remaining squads a little bit to compensate. Our extra bolter shots are moved into the bikes. We have a nice little bit of duality in those squads, and if the bikes run out of juicy targets for meltaguns, the bolters do good against standard infantry.

While we also lose a durable scoring unit, we gain two fast ones. While they are relatively flimsy, the attack bikes are always scoring units for DA. I'd say be a little more aggressive with the 3-man bike units and be only SLIGHTLY more cautious with the attack bikes.

As for the terminator squads... Chainfists aren't as necessary with the inclusion of meltaguns, but they are very nice for dealing with walkers. Making a model or two in each squad wield lightning claws is not a bad idea either. This slight shift in the army layout doesn't need as much emphasis on terminators keeping storm bolters around. I think at this point it comes down to personal preference.

Please give me some feedback on these changes. I really like the way this list is shaping up!

Death Hammer Revisted

I have had some time to get some serious playtesting in with the Death Hammer theme. The list has migrated away from vehicle support and has embraced the same all-foot strategy my Loganwing list had. I must still give props to Chumbalaya for the initial inspiration for that list. Modifying that to my play style and playing it for 3-4 months allowed me to quickly bring this new DA list to its current level of kick-ass.

I'm gonna give the basic outline at 2000 points and explain some of the insights I've learned with it as I have played. Depending on how things work out with Grey Knights or other rules changes, this is starting to look like the army i will be taking to NOVA. I think it is awesome that this army is capable of high level competition thanks to the updates.

Click through for the list and analysis:

Playing Dark Angels: Death Hammer (2000 Points)

Many of you should be familiar with the evolution of my Loganwing list after I first nabbed the idea from Chumbalaya. With the advent of the DA FAQ, we now have access to a similar amount of punishment to be doled out by our very own Deathwing.

The following list lacks the fast-moving assault threat of the Thunderwolf Cavalry as well as the counter-assault and cover screen protection of the Lone Wolves. It makes up for that, however, by having a much more durable and hard-hitting troop base. We're clocking in at 26 Deathwing Termiantors plus support. This is gonna be fun.

New List for a New Year

So I have been having some great success running the Space Wolves codex using the Loganwing Missile Spam. Through playing and learning I've found something that works super well for me, and is my mostly likely candidate for Nova at this point. I've ordered 3 Cyclone Missile Launchers to add to the army to replace the 3 assault cannons I was running which will bring my total number of missile shots up to 20 (with 4 lascannon shots to help against heavier armor), and it will allow the entire firebase to operate at a much greater range. Good thing my terminators are magnetized. Setting up these 3 cyclones will require some slight repainting on 3 models to cover up the new magnet locations, but it should be a quick and painless procedure.

But that's not the big news. After reading over some lists and strategy discussion on Bolter & Chainsword, I developed a new Dark Angels list that I think could be truly competitive and it takes advantage of DA's nuances without using terminators or Bikes. Imagine that!

Dusting off the Eldar: Going Dark

Having had a chance to go over most of the stuff in the upcoming Codex: Dark Eldar, I am thinking I'll be able to break out my Eldar and get them to work with the new codex. I'm gonna throw some ideas around for counts-as and start working on the conversions for the missing pieces soon.

My Eldar army is pure Ulthwé, with the heavy focus on seer councils. Support from Black Guardians and a small splash of aspect warriors makes the list super-fluffy while still being really good, at least when we look at the options we have available in Dark Eldar. Try doing that with the Eldar codex and your grand total of 7 units will get blasted off the table in no time.

Here is the list I am looking at starting with. It's really straightforward, and probably on the weaker side of what can be done with Dark Eldar. Testing with this list will give me a really good idea about the core units of the force though, and I can branch out from there. I will explain the conversions & counts as after the list.

Kicking Puppies: Starting Over

So, I’m a horrible blogger for leaving everyone in limbo for so long. I had all these grand ideas and managed to not get very many of them off the ground. I have been doing a good bit of modeling, playing some games, and visiting other blogs, but I haven’t left time for posting here.

I’m gonna make a stronger effort to catch back up. For now I only want to guarantee one post a week. I want to do more, but I will keep myself up to that minimum.

After coming down from that tournament in June I kind of jumped away from Dark Angels and looked at Fantasy. I’m still going to be working on that army, but it’s going to be a long time in the making. Most of my close friends don’t play it, and I enjoy the mechanics of 40k a little more.

Over the past few weeks I have been working with Space Wolves, and I’ve got enough games under my belt to really like how the units are working. I’ve worked up something based on what Chumbalaya ran at the NOVA Open. Details after the jump.

Taking 40k into Fantasy: Platinum Guard

The interwebs are all a-buzz with talk of the newest edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles since it hit shelves on Friday. I have never taken the time before to get acquainted with the ruleset, as the few games I had the opportunity to watch didn't hold my interest with the quick and completely lopsided combats, lack of terrain, and other such things happening on the tabletop in those games. I figured a new edition would be a great time to take a comprehensive look at the game and see if I like it, however.

Playing Eldar: Ulthwe Night Spinner Support List

Now that I've done a whole month's worth of Dark Angels gaming, I'm taking a step back towards my Eldar army. I have several new units to try out, and it looks like it's going to be a fun ride. I ordered some conversion kits from Chapterhouse Studios a while back, and the models just came in this weekend. I now have the stuff to build up a farseer and 12 warlocks on jetbikes without having to carve up a bunch of metal, and for a little less than the normal price. Double-win in my book. I also have a couple of Fire Prism/Night Spinner kits I'm working on. I've got one magnetized, and will be working on the second one soon. The following is a list I've developed to get the most out of these models:

Rocket City Invasion: Yay for Mediocrity

Saturday I played in a local event being run at the university in town. Here's a rundown of the basic points:

2000 point armies
Standard Missions used for 3 games (deployment and mission type pre-selected for each round)
Bonus objectives to earn up more kill points.

Here is the list I ran. It's a pretty basic mechanized Deathwing list that I ahve been using for a couple of months now:

Belial with Claws
2 Dreadnoughts with Missile Launcher/Lascannon
Deathwing Command Squad with Assault Cannon, Apothecary, Standard
Deathwing Squad with Assault Cannon
Deathwing Squad with Cyclone
2 Land Raider Crusaders
1 Land Raider

All Deathwing squads had 1 chainfist and 1 thunder hammer model.
All Land Raiders has an extra storm bolter

In the event I played against Space Marines, IG, and Blood Angels. here's a general overview of the games: