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 Raichase wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
Another great thing to expand a space Marine list (and if you can find it I'd snatch it up pronto as it's gone Out of prine) is Betrayal at Calath. thats nearly an entire space marine demi company.

I'll second that - I bought the box purely for the marine models for my Word Bearers army - the bits are completely compatible with the other marine*/chaos marine kits so you can mix and match for some good variety. Each ten-man squad comes with an eye-watering number of options, missile launcher or heavy bolter, meltagun/plasmagun/flamer, combi-weapon for the sergeant/champion, power fist, power sword, etc... Plus they're gorgeous models.

*I don't know about primaris though, not had a look at any of those models in the flesh yet.

This is only a personal opinion, but i think that primaris models look great, to the point that i'm ventilating the idea to put together a green wing primaris only DA list. Probably not the best possible build, but man they would look amazing.

 Phobos wrote:
So, to update the story, I didn't get back to the store. However, I came across the original dark vengeance set (all new on sprue, missing the rulebook) with the limited edition character in it for an irresistible price at a thrift store!

Well, then I did some reading on the Dark Angels and they seem pretty cool and look like fun to paint so I'm going to keep them.

Now the big question is now what's the cheapest way to expand upon them? Should I just go buy the other DV set and just have double the guys? It's hard to find info because all the threads talking about lists and such aren't from this edition..

Welcome to the Rock!

By "this edition" are you intending to play 8th Edition? If so, you are almost at a Battalion Detachment! You have a good spread of iconic Dark Angels units with 2 x HQ, 2 x Troops, 1 x Elites and 1 x Fast Attack. It comes to about 650 points in 8th Edition. You could add a box of Scouts to have a Battalion (a third Troops choice), while a box of Devastators would give you some long-ranged firepower that your list needs. At this point it would be around 850 points, and while it would not likely win LVO it would be a decent Take All Comers list for fun games (sharks at your FLGS open gaming might feast but that's OK for now). The Deathwing Terminators have been struggling as 8th Edition rolls out, but I still use them and they give you some tactical flexibility. The Ravenwing Bikers are still solid. Add a can of Black primer and a can of Caliban Green and you are close to table-top ready!

I find that the Dark Angels do Primaris fairly well and Hellblasters really well. You could get a Know No Fear box that would give you a third HQ, another Troops (Intercessors) another Fast Attack (Inceptors) and another Heavy Support (Hellblasters). Hellblasters are a Dark Angels specialty! This would bring you just shy of 1400 points. After that you have plenty of choices.

The Know No Fear box would also give some useful Death Guard for your Chaos dudes from Dark Vengeance.

If, on the other hand, you intend to play 7th Edition I do not have much to offer in the way of advice since I skipped that edition...

Cheers!

TangoTwoBravo wrote:

 Phobos wrote:
So, to update the story, I didn't get back to the store. However, I came across the original dark vengeance set (all new on sprue, missing the rulebook) with the limited edition character in it for an irresistible price at a thrift store!

Well, then I did some reading on the Dark Angels and they seem pretty cool and look like fun to paint so I'm going to keep them.

Now the big question is now what's the cheapest way to expand upon them? Should I just go buy the other DV set and just have double the guys? It's hard to find info because all the threads talking about lists and such aren't from this edition..

Welcome to the Rock!

By "this edition" are you intending to play 8th Edition? If so, you are almost at a Battalion Detachment! You have a good spread of iconic Dark Angels units with 2 x HQ, 2 x Troops, 1 x Elites and 1 x Fast Attack. It comes to about 650 points in 8th Edition. You could add a box of Scouts to have a Battalion (a third Troops choice), while a box of Devastators would give you some long-ranged firepower that your list needs. At this point it would be around 850 points, and while it would not likely win LVO it would be a decent Take All Comers list for fun games (sharks at your FLGS open gaming might feast but that's OK for now). The Deathwing Terminators have been struggling as 8th Edition rolls out, but I still use them and they give you some tactical flexibility. The Ravenwing Bikers are still solid. Add a can of Black primer and a can of Caliban Green and you are close to table-top ready!

I find that the Dark Angels do Primaris fairly well and Hellblasters really well. You could get a Know No Fear box that would give you a third HQ, another Troops (Intercessors) another Fast Attack (Inceptors) and another Heavy Support (Hellblasters). Hellblasters are a Dark Angels specialty! This would bring you just shy of 1400 points. After that you have plenty of choices.

The Know No Fear box would also give some useful Death Guard for your Chaos dudes from Dark Vengeance.

If, on the other hand, you intend to play 7th Edition I do not have much to offer in the way of advice since I skipped that edition...

Cheers!

Oh gosh yes, this (8th) edition!

Thanks for the reply. Seems like I have plenty of choices with this Army, the more I dig into it I can see alot of places to go. Definitely going to get those Hellblasters. But bottom line is there's no reason to get double the Dark Vengeance guys though, correct?

It depends on what you want to do with the army. It could be worth having a second squad of Tacticals, Ravenwing bikers, and Terminators, plus you could do some simple conversions on the extra characters. And Chaos Cultists are like gold these days; you can never have enough of them, so you might get the box just for the Chaos side, and consider the DA half a nice bonus.

Personally I think Dark Vengeance is one of the better starter sets GW ever did, although Dark Imperium is better still. Saying which, it could be worth springing for Dark Imperium rather than just Know No Fear if you don't already have a rulebook for 8th. Plus it includes a few more models that aren't in Know No Fear (a couple of characters, 2 more Plague marines, and a second set of Poxwalkers for the Nurgle side, and 2 Primaris Lieutenants, a Primaris Ancient, and a second Intercessor squad for the Marines side, plus decals for 4 chapters including Dark Angels).

 ZergSmasher wrote:
It depends on what you want to do with the army. It could be worth having a second squad of Tacticals, Ravenwing bikers, and Terminators, plus you could do some simple conversions on the extra characters. And Chaos Cultists are like gold these days; you can never have enough of them, so you might get the box just for the Chaos side, and consider the DA half a nice bonus.

Personally I think Dark Vengeance is one of the better starter sets GW ever did, although Dark Imperium is better still. Saying which, it could be worth springing for Dark Imperium rather than just Know No Fear if you don't already have a rulebook for 8th. Plus it includes a few more models that aren't in Know No Fear (a couple of characters, 2 more Plague marines, and a second set of Poxwalkers for the Nurgle side, and 2 Primaris Lieutenants, a Primaris Ancient, and a second Intercessor squad for the Marines side, plus decals for 4 chapters including Dark Angels).

yeah in fairness I was assuming since he said he played nurgle and his wife owned space wolves they'd already gotten dark Imperium. but it's worth snagging twice if he's building a dark angels army.

Brian is right, I do have the Dark Imperium set and my wife is using the Primaris guys from it.

Truth be told I don't know what I want to do with the army. I want it all, but I don't want to get carried away LOL. I wasn't even planning on it until this basically fell into my lap and I found out how cool they were.

 Phobos wrote:
Brian is right, I do have the Dark Imperium set and my wife is using the Primaris guys from it.

Truth be told I don't know what I want to do with the army. I want it all, but I don't want to get carried away LOL. I wasn't even planning on it until this basically fell into my lap and I found out how cool they were.

Yeah Dark Imperium's not a bad deal and would add to both armies. the biggest problem is justifying the purchase to your wife

Know no Fear gets you MOST of what you want model wise, and is 50 bucks cheaper so... little easier

BrianDavion wrote:

 Phobos wrote:
Brian is right, I do have the Dark Imperium set and my wife is using the Primaris guys from it.

Truth be told I don't know what I want to do with the army. I want it all, but I don't want to get carried away LOL. I wasn't even planning on it until this basically fell into my lap and I found out how cool they were.

Yeah Dark Imperium's not a bad deal and would add to both armies. the biggest problem is justifying the purchase to your wife

Know no Fear gets you MOST of what you want model wise, and is 50 bucks cheaper so... little easier

I'll pick up another DI box then as well, I can just sell off the extra rulebook.

 Phobos wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

 Phobos wrote:
Brian is right, I do have the Dark Imperium set and my wife is using the Primaris guys from it.

Truth be told I don't know what I want to do with the army. I want it all, but I don't want to get carried away LOL. I wasn't even planning on it until this basically fell into my lap and I found out how cool they were.

Yeah Dark Imperium's not a bad deal and would add to both armies. the biggest problem is justifying the purchase to your wife

Know no Fear gets you MOST of what you want model wise, and is 50 bucks cheaper so... little easier

I'll pick up another DI box then as well, I can just sell off the extra rulebook.

or even keep it so you and your wife both have a referance book of your own for gaming.

u go buy codex space wolves or codex marines and go play a better army. as the dark angels are fairly gak

 ionusx wrote:
u go buy codex space wolves or codex marines and go play a better army. as the dark angels are fairly gak

not helpful man. "Hi I'm a new player and excited about army X" "your army sucks you should play Y instead and only Spam W!" a new player isn't worried about "super duper touny wins" and dark angels are a pretty solid army so long as yoiu're not doing that. (even from a tourny POV they're not bad if you wanna use large numbers of hell blasters)

You should always play and collect an army that appeals to you on a visual and background level first and figure out rules after. Armies ebb and flow and if your only buying an army to beat face, I think your robbing yourself of a large portion of the hobby.

HoundsofDemos wrote:
You should always play and collect an army that appeals to you on a visual and background level first and figure out rules after. Armies ebb and flow and if your only buying an army to beat face, I think your robbing yourself of a large portion of the hobby.

and given how fast the meta changes these days by time you assmbled and painted a large eneugh army you'd likely find the meta changed anyway.

HoundsofDemos wrote:
You should always play and collect an army that appeals to you on a visual and background level first and figure out rules after. Armies ebb and flow and if your only buying an army to beat face, I think your robbing yourself of a large portion of the hobby.

This is good advice. Unless you're a fast painter, the meta will probably have changed by the time you've painted the whole army. I'd been through about four codexes with my Blood Angels by the time I had a decent chunk of them painted.

EDIT - Somehow I didn't see BrianDavion's post that was saying the exact same thing.

 Phobos wrote:
Brian is right, I do have the Dark Imperium set and my wife is using the Primaris guys from it.

Truth be told I don't know what I want to do with the army. I want it all, but I don't want to get carried away LOL. I wasn't even planning on it until this basically fell into my lap and I found out how cool they were.

The Dark Angels seem to speak to you - run with it! They are not everyone's cup of tea, but they fit the 40K universe very well.

You indicated that you intend to get another set of DI - that will fill out your army very well! You could still use a box of Devastators to round out your anti-tank. At that point you can play around 2000 points and find what aspects of the army work for you. The Dark Angels offer several ways to play: Ravenwing, Greenwing, Deathwing or any combination. Your collection will offer you a starting point for all of those angles (or angels).

One last thing, never forgive and never forget...

I'll chime in as well.

A friend of mine told me once "Rules come and go, plastic stays."

BrianDavion wrote:

HoundsofDemos wrote:
You should always play and collect an army that appeals to you on a visual and background level first and figure out rules after. Armies ebb and flow and if your only buying an army to beat face, I think your robbing yourself of a large portion of the hobby.

and given how fast the meta changes these days by time you assmbled and painted a large eneugh army you'd likely find the meta changed anyway.

THIS.

I started collecting CSMs (Khorne - berserkers etc) back at the start of 6th, and they were pretty much bottom of the barrel but I liked them.

After spending a few years of my regular opponent wiping the floor with me, I started off a second army - around the tail end of 7th edition - of Dark Eldar... Knew they were a massive challenge but I just loved the models.

Then 8th edition came along, and the CSM and DE codexes came out, and I'm now in a much happier place...

BrianDavion wrote:

 ionusx wrote:
u go buy codex space wolves or codex marines and go play a better army. as the dark angels are fairly gak

not helpful man. "Hi I'm a new player and excited about army X" "your army sucks you should play Y instead and only Spam W!" a new player isn't worried about "super duper touny wins" and dark angels are a pretty solid army so long as yoiu're not doing that. (even from a tourny POV they're not bad if you wanna use large numbers of hell blasters)

Yeah I really so don't even care about how "good" any army is in the meta. If I manage to paint and play a proper 2,000 point game against anyone other than my wife within the next 6 months it will be a minor miracle.

TangoTwoBravo wrote:

 Phobos wrote:
Brian is right, I do have the Dark Imperium set and my wife is using the Primaris guys from it.

Truth be told I don't know what I want to do with the army. I want it all, but I don't want to get carried away LOL. I wasn't even planning on it until this basically fell into my lap and I found out how cool they were.

The Dark Angels seem to speak to you - run with it! They are not everyone's cup of tea, but they fit the 40K universe very well.

You indicated that you intend to get another set of DI - that will fill out your army very well! You could still use a box of Devastators to round out your anti-tank. At that point you can play around 2000 points and find what aspects of the army work for you. The Dark Angels offer several ways to play: Ravenwing, Greenwing, Deathwing or any combination. Your collection will offer you a starting point for all of those angles (or angels).

One last thing, never forgive and never forget...

Thanks. The differing ways to play was part of what drew me into to Dark Angels. Planes, bikes, all sorts of cool stuff. Makes me happy because in addition to the Death Guard, I kind of wanted a loyalist faction to play, and none of the other ones really clicked.

First of all, congratulations on committing to a very cool faction.

Dark Angels are one of the marine armies that are doing fairly well right now. Army wide rerolls, coupled with plasma, and access to banners - it is all very solid.

I would also throw out there that you can make really neat bike based armies. Bikes put out loads of shots, and DA bikes can also be decent in melee.

Take a look at a devastator squad. Unfortunately this box doesn't have the bits to make 4x Plasma Heavies, but you can pick those up on ebay. Putting them in a Ruins, so they have a 2+ save, and getting free reroll of 1s to hit? Overcharge for days! That one squad spits out 4d3 (expected 8) strength 8, AP-3, 2 damage shots, at 36". You can also burn a cherub and a signum, so one guy never has a risk of popping, and shoots twice!

Personally I wouldn't go with Plasma Cannons on your Devs- that's what Hellblasters are for (and you already have those if you got 1-2 DI sets). I'd go with Lascannons or Missile Launchers (preferably the latter) on Devastators. There's a neat little stratagem called Flakk Missile that lets you put mortal wounds on flying models, and if you burn an Armorium Cherub on the guy who fires it, you can get 2d3 mortals for 1 command point.

Another unit you might look into is Scout Bikers. I've been running some for the last few months, and I've found them to be even better than Ravenwing for their points. They get 6 shots per bike if the range is less than 12" (4 from twin bolter + 2 from shotgun), and the sergeant can take a Storm Bolter for even more dakka. 6 bikes puts out 40 shots in that configuration, for just 152 points! That said, Ravenwing have a cool stratagem and some very nice support characters in the form of Sammael and Talonmasters, so they aren't garbage either. Black Knights are a bit expensive for what they do, though. And as for other must-have units you should pick up at some point, I say get yourself at least one Dark Talon. I cannot praise that beautiful plane enough!

OK latest update. I went back to the first hobby shop and chatted with the owner. He was pretty anxious to get rid of the old starter set so he gave me a deal on it. So now I have 2 Dark Vengance sets to build from.

So, My DA force now consists of:

1 Interrogator Chaplain
2 Dark Angels Company Master
2 Dark Angels Librarian
10 Death Wing Terminators
20 Dark Angel Tactical Marines
6 Ravenwing Bikes

Plus a bunch of CSM guys, I'm not too sure what to do with them:

1 Chaos Aspiring Champion
2 Chaos Space Marines Lord
12 Chaos Space Marine Chosen
2 Chaos Space Marine Hellbrute
40 Chaos Cultists

I also got the Dark Angels codex so I can read about them. I know I'm going to mix in the cultists and one of the hellbrutes for my Death Guard. I don't think the other units will work well with them though. I'm going to pick up another Dark Imperium box shortly as well.

 Phobos wrote:
OK latest update. I went back to the first hobby shop and chatted with the owner. He was pretty anxious to get rid of the old starter set so he gave me a deal on it. So now I have 2 Dark Vengance sets to build from.

So, My DA force now consists of:

1 Interrogator Chaplain
2 Dark Angels Company Master
2 Dark Angels Librarian
10 Death Wing Terminators
20 Dark Angel Tactical Marines
6 Ravenwing Bikes

Plus a bunch of CSM guys, I'm not too sure what to do with them:

1 Chaos Aspiring Champion
2 Chaos Space Marines Lord
12 Chaos Space Marine Chosen
2 Chaos Space Marine Hellbrute
40 Chaos Cultists

I also got the Dark Angels codex so I can read about them. I know I'm going to mix in the cultists and one of the hellbrutes for my Death Guard. I don't think the other units will work well with them though. I'm going to pick up another Dark Imperium box shortly as well.

Well the CSM Lords can be used as Death Guard Lords, though they might look a touch out of place. my advice re the chosen would be to keep them on hand for experiments.

I reckon set the Chaos models aside for now, later on you might want to field an Alpha Legion (or indeed another legion) detachment to support your Death Guard army. If nothing else, the Cultists will only increase in value as time passes and GW doesn't put out a proper cultist kit, so there's always eBay!