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What are the main differences between these two?

I've got a Blood Angels force, and I know they're seemingly a fast attack army, but I'm wondering what differences the Dark Angels have, other than bone coloured terminators and a few bikes? How are they different than the Blood Angel bikes/termies?

I'm a n00b btw so go easy :p

I think lexicanum.com would be a good place to answer this question, it has a solid background of 40k fluff and history if you will. Also, 1d4chan has a more humorous take on the various factions, characters and armies in 40k.

oh, sorry, I meant on the tabletop, like how their play styles difference.My fault for not being clear

Ah, well, I would search here for tactics and 1d4chan has a tactics section as well here :
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Category:Warhammer_Tactics

Well apart from some different units and variations in costing due to DA being a more recent codex (ie, tactical marines are 14 points per model, but the veteran sergeant upgrade and flamer/ML are no longer free) as well as different universal rules (DA have Stubborn and some models have Inner Circle, which gives them Fearless and PE:Chaos, while I believe BA have Red Thirst), they have access to some different unique units (for example, DA have a Terminator Variant, a Bike Variant, and 2 unique land speeder variants, while BA have Death Company, Furiouso and Librarian Dreadnoughts, etc). Additionally, DA have special characters which make Terminator and Bike Squads scoring and some unique wargear choices, while BA have fast vehicles and scoring assault marines.

Blood angels are assault oriented
Dark angels are Bike oriented

Take it with a grain of salt.

Thanks guys

I'm just deciding whether to build a Dark Angels army or use my Blood Angels, for a new league I'm joining. I'm probably going to ally them in the end anyway

Okay. Well I'm a DA Player, and I know BA well enough to comment.

Both armies have their own distinct units. Blood angels are all about speed, getting to your enemies as fast as possible and take them out in assault, that's why all their vehicles are fast, and can take assault marines as troops.

Dark Angels actually have three different ways they can be played. You can build an all terminator list with the Deathwings, that automatically deep strike in turn 1 or 2 with the DeathWing assault rule (need belial or Azreal to make them troops). You can also do Ravenwing where you get bikes as troops (Again taking Samal or Azareal as HQ) and all the goodness that comes with that.

You can also play Greenwing, using them like you would a regular space marine army, or Dualwing to mix up the different units you like.

My Verdict: Blood Angels are good, if you want a fast assault focused army. If you want a single army that lets you play many different ways then Dark Angels are the way to go.

Someone that knows BA better then I do could probably argue my interpretation.

I've never locked horns with Dark Angels on the table, but my impression is that besides pure Raven/Deathwing setups, they're more shooty-based.

I've fought Blood Angels a couple of times and they are CC beasts. You haven't lived (or died) until you receive 50 wounds from a single decently manned Death Company with a tag-along Chaplain.

That's what I like the idea of, I know they all have the same troops, terminators/bikers etc but wasn't sure how the DA stuff was different to the BA stuff, so thanks

I love my Blood Angels, I love the idea that they'll fly straight into battle but the reality is that the enemy often gets a kill point from destroying my assault marines lol

The Dark Angels are a very different force to play. In terms of how you use them, even with Deathwing or Ravenwing you'll find you do most of your damage with shooting (with a couple of notable exceptions, like Deathwing Knights). The difference is whether you drop in in force and in the enemy's face (Deathwing and/or Drop Pods), use speed to pick targets off (Ravenwing), or operate a traditional gun-line (the more traditional company-balanced Marine force). The best advice I can give is to have a good pore through the new Codex, and see if there's any units or characters in particular that you like the sound of.

It's worth noting that Blood Angels CAN do shooty, and indeed, some would argue that they fare better than trying the CC route in 6th edition. We get fast vehicles that can stay on the move while firing at full effectiveness, the option for plentiful cheap Razorbacks with small Assault Squads that double up as your objective takers, slightly cheaper than normal Devastators (though not compared to DA), Baal Predators for hefty anti-infantry fire, and Land Raiders in all flavours as dedicated transports.