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.

Primary Detachment

• 85 Lord Commissar
  • Power Weapon (Axe)
  • Melta Bombs
• 375 Infantry Platoon
  • [55] Platoon Command Squad
    • 4 Flamers
    • Melta Bombs
  • [80] Infantry Squad
    • Flamer
    • Autocannon
    • Power Weapon (Axe)
    • Melta Bombs
  • [80] Infantry Squad
    • Flamer
    • Autocannon
    • Power Weapon (Axe)
    • Melta Bombs
  • [80] Infantry Squad
    • Flamer
    • Autocannon
    • Power Weapon (Axe)
    • Melta Bombs
  • [80] Infantry Squad
    • Flamer
    • Autocannon
    • Power Weapon (Axe)
    • Melta Bombs
• 100 Veteran Squad
  • 3 Meltaguns
• 115 Veteran Squad
  • 3 Plasma Guns
• 140 Vendetta
  • Heavy Bolter Sponsons
• 140 Vendetta
  • Heavy Bolter Sponsons
• 140 Vendetta
  • Heavy Bolter Sponsons

Fortification

• 100 Aegis Defense Line
  • Quad Gun

Allied Detachment

• 130 Belial
  • TH/SS
• 290 DW Terminator Squad
  • 5 TH/SS
  • CML
  • Apothecary
  • Standard Bearer
• 235 DW Terminator Squad
  • 5 TH/SS
  • CML

Total: 1850

This army has everything you need to be effective in 6th: Durability from shooting, flier defense, good anti-infantry, defense from dreadnoughts and AV14, and just the right amount of close combat kick. On top of that, we are putting a LOT of 2+ saves on the table with the help of the defense line.

One possible variant of this list would drop one Infantry Squad inside our Platoon, move our Commissar inside the platoon, and grab a Primaris Psyker to roll on Biomancy to try and get Feel No Pain for our unit. This list will stay pretty much the same after the new DA codex and still work well, but I have a feeling we will also be able to try out DA primary with better success. The only change I see here is swapping Belial for a Librarian since Deathwing are rumored to be troops without him.

Comments and criticism are always welcome!