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Hey guys.
currently i have an okay amount of DA Troops but I´m thinking about a codex swap. My w/l-ratio is very bad and I sort of get the feeling that i don´t have a "connection" to the way DA are played because I tend to go toe-to-toe with my enemys and usually get served afterwards because my troops are not made for close combat... I imagine that the SW counter-attack would help me quite a lot then. Additionally the HQs seem to be stronger and have more character then the DA ones...
Would you guys still recommend SW in 6th ed.? What else can i expect from swapping codices?

Pick up the codex as cheaply as you can (ebay, about fifteen bucks usd, shipped) and play with the SM codex without repainting (unless you really want to).

IIRC, Space Marines don't play that differently than Dark Angels. For more toe-to-toe, look at Black Templar, Grey Knights, or Blood Angels.

I´m talking about Space Wolves not Space Marines

Well, don't I feel sheepish.

Space Wolves are still strong in 6th edition, especially when you factor in Allies. Their only glaring weakness is against Flyers, and there are plenty of ways around that (up to and including ignoring them for some lists).

I'd say there is plenty of character with DA HQ choices, or at least as much as Space Wolf options. Company Masters, Interrogator-Chaplains, Chaplains, and Librarians are all potentially full of character. At least as much as Space Wolf HQ choices. We're both better off than Blood Angels! (The Blood Angel Captain is the most boring HQ choice in the world, and about as useless). You have any idea what I would give to just be able to take even a Combat Shield on my Rune Priest?

By toe-to-toe do you mean short range firefights? Salamanders/Crimson Fist from Codex: Space Marines and Grey Knights would also work if that is the case, though you should be fine with Dark Angels.


I would recommend figuring out which army's back story and style suits you best, or roll your own "counts-as". Space Wolves in 6th edition are largely foot list or Drop Pod lists right now for whatever reason, and taking that Codex makes a few other things almost mandatory (such as the inclusion of Rune Priests) that otherwise aren't to other armies. So keep that in mind too.

Well tbh with toe-to-toe i meant the actual close combat. Whenever the other player gets past my gun line he gets stuck in and i have no way to get rid of him anymore. I don´t wanna say it´s not a positioning mistake or something else but having way more attacks through boltpistol+ccw & counter-attack seem to be way more forgiving then my "regular" tacsquads.

Have you tried rethinking your list before changing codices? I love SW, they're great fun to play, but they play extremely differently to DA. You might not like that.
Just don't make the mistake of thinking SW are a CC army. Their basic troops are better at CC than many things (especially with a TDAWG and a standard) but overall SW are a mid-range army.

Aren´t DA suppossed to be mid-range too? I´ve got the feeling that I really get to feel the pain when i finally get into rapid fire range... Except if my opponent pulls off a massiv positioning mistake...
As I´ve already stated I do believe that I do several tactical mistakes but on the other hand I´ve got the feeling that i lack some kind of "connection" to the way DA are played.... My best buddy started BA and he synergises with them on some kind of spiritual base
I guess I´ll just try to play a couple of green & bone-colored Space Wolves in my next matches. Maybe I can borrow someones codex at my FLGS.

Death wing Knights.

Those guys are probably the best assault unit for Dark Angels, include an integrator Chappy in terminator armor to Deathwing assault with them.

Sounds like you need a counter attack unit. By that I mean a unit who's job is to come to the rescue of whatever squad gets charged (since a 10 man Space Marine unit should take more than one turn to kill). For Space Wolves this is largely what Thunderwolves are meant for. But really, anything that can move quickly to a threat, preferably with either high strength/multiple AP 2 or AP 3 attacks, will do the trick.

For DA I would have to say that's probably going to be Ravenwing. Terminators can't launch an assault on the turn they arrive, and really Deathwing is ideal for hard strikes deep in enemy territory more than anything else. Gotta love the Deathwing Assault and Vengeful Strike special rules!

Anyways, I'd personally try to use Ravenwing this way. They can move quickly, have high toughness, can bring multiple special weapons, give you Attack Bikes and Land Speeders that operate independently of the rest of the Bikes, come with Teleport Homers for free (just in case you really need to reinforce somewhere specific), have Scout, and most importantly have Hit & Run.

They're the perfect support choice. They can book it up the board and support your forward units, strike deep into enemy territory to make your Deathwing units strike with precision, or if your enemy is advancing on your line they can harry him the entire way. Once he hits your line, they can join in the assault, make a difference, and run out of there so they don't get stuck in.

Between Hammer of Wrath (Bikes get free Initiative 10 strikes when they charge) and the normal attacks for the Bikers, you can easily dip the balance in your favor against most units. Better still, you pull off a Hit & Run, which isn't a fall back move. You get to pick a direction and move 3D6" in that direction. So you can position yourself so if the enemy assault is broken, they either get caught in a crossfire and obliterated or are stuck falling back on their turn (and your Bikes can just chase them off the board if need be).

If it were me, I'd either be running two small squads of Ravenwing Bikes (for the additional Attack Bike) or a fully maxed squad. 311 points gets you 6 Bikes, 2 Meltaguns, 1 Attack Bike with Multi-Melta, and 1 Land Speeder Typhoon. 3-4 units (depending on Combat Squads) all for only a single FOC slot.

Probably Ravenwing Knights are best for this, but they are quite a bit (+50%) more spendy. They also don't let you grab Attack Bikes and Land Speeders.

For 1500 points I would try something like this:



General Strategy with the list:
- Tactical Squad on foot + Devastators set up on home Objective. Librarian joins the Devastators. Tactical Squad should be screening the Devastators.
- Scout Squad Infiltrates onto another Objective if possible. Preferably one in some Bolstered terrain piece.
- Deathwing should be told to come in on Turn 2 or Turn 3, depending on terrain setup
- Ravenwing + Rhino mounted Tactical + Techmarine on Bike should advance rapidly to take an enemy Objective
- Depending on opponent, combat squad Ravenwing Bikes. Probably 2 Meltaguns in one Combat Squad, and the Sergeant in the other.
- Get one Ravenwing Bike deep into enemy territory by Turn 2 or Turn 3 (preferably with the Techmarine and his Auspex), let the Deathwing Deep Strike by him. Their Vengeful Strike coupled with the Plasma Cannon and Auspex should help dislodge the enemy. Stomp around their lines with your Terminators.
- This entire time the Landspeeder is providing fire support. Enemy tanks should easily be made slag between the 4 BS5 Twin-Linked Lascannons, 4-5 Krak Missile shots (Typoon + Troops), and several (2-4) Meltagun shots.
- Enemy Flyers shouldn't been too numerous at this point level. 3 Skyfire Krak Missiles and 4 Twin-Linked Lascannons should help deal with those that are present.

My favorite part is that you still have 2 Fast Attack slots and 1 HQ slot left available. Techmarines not eating up a FOC slot and Ravenwing Squadrons are really useful to save FOC space. With Dark Angels, their strength seems to be with Ravenwing and Deathwing working in tandum.

SW are fantastic, but as stated above very different from DA. In all honesty you should download a pdf version of SW codex from Scribd to get a feel for it before buying a physical copy and make a list and see if your opponent cares to do a few counts as matches. If they are against you representing stuff well to try out a list before switching armies id find someone new to play with. That way you see if you really like them. BT and BA may be better if you're charging into cc because SW are a midrange shooting powerhouse but they will wreck face in cc if someone confronts them.

I've been playing SW for a couple of years now, and I think they're great, Blood Claws are pretty good, if that's what you're thinking of fielding, but to be honest, they've not been the same since 3rd Ed... SW are masters of the medium range, if you really want some CCW tanks, and you want SM that badly, go for BA (BT need an update, I personally think they might get phased out... :(), I've also been playing BA for a couple of years, and I think their home is in combat