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So I finally embraced my inner desire to play Warhammer 40k and purchased the Dark Vengeance starter set as well as the Ravenwing Battleforce. Now I have a couple of questions.

After reviewing forums and talking to people online it is suggested that I use flamers/meltas/plasma on my bikers.

First question: Is this in addition to the guns already mounted to the bike?
Second question: Are the guns mounted to the bike just for show or do these actually count as weapons I can use?
Third question: How exactly do I go about getting a melta/flamer/plasma for my collection, like where is a good place to purchase and such?
Fourth question: How do I equip them to my bikers, like do they need to be holding onto them, do I replace the guns mounted to the bike with them and so on? Mostly, where do they go on the model.
Final question for now: If I want to supplement my collection with additional marines, for example the five marines that come with the starter paint set, can I use these as Dark Angel space marines or are they reserved for the regular space marines? I am really curious about this because I want to use a fair bit of tactical marines for my Dark Angel squad and I found a guy willing to sell a bunch of regular space marine stuff and I was hoping the units were interchangeable, after a paint job of course.

1. Yes they are in addition to the bikes twin linked boltguns.
2.The guns mounted on the bike count as a twin linked bolter.
3. I would suggest asking people in your FLGS if they have spares.
4. As long as you can show someone where on the model the weapon is you should be fine.
5.Again as long as it's clear it should be fine. Dark Angels are still Space Marines after all.

Okay that sounds awesome, thanks so much.

Now when it comes to coloring, I love the lore of the DA but I hate their colors, am I able to freely change their color combination and still call them DA?

Welcome to the hobby!!

as for your questions...

1. Yes, in addition to the bike mounted guns
2. The guns on the bike are real. They are listed in the bike profile in the rules (twin-linked bolters)
3. best way is to ask fellow gamers at the store. Most players have a few spare laying around. If that doesn't work out, there are plenty of ebay stores (sorry, I don't have a link easily available).
4. either glue them on their leg, on the side of the bike, or put your conversion skills to the test and make the driver hold it in one hand. Some local gamers at your shop will hopefully be happy to show you how.
5. You can use those as Dark Angels, just paint them dark green! You can even apply a decal or paint the winged sword on their shoulder pad to make them look better.

I hope this helps, and again, welcome.

1) Yes, but it's either or when firing hem
2) they're usable
3) they're available as separate bits in the tactical squad box, individually online from the likes of eBay, and specifically for bikers, there is a set of special torsos available from GW that has a melta, plasma and Sargent
4)you can replace the arm holding the handlebar with any old Marine right arm, then attach the gun to that - again a Tactical box might be a good investment for bits, you can use the heads etc to make your bikers look different too
5) the plastic marine kits are nearly all swappable between each other by design - do not get too hung up on what is "correct" in most cases the only thing that distinguishes one Marine's chapter from another is the paint colour and chapter symbol. I believe the DV stuff has iconography sculpted on, this is very much the exception rather than the rule.

Its your game! Change those colors. Looking the DA codex for 'successor chapters.' Successor chapters are basically what you are talking about. Running the primary army with a different color scheme. You can even change some fluff. Either pick a chapter out of the DA codex or make your own. At the end of the day, its your money and your minis. Also, WELCOME.

Just came across another question.

Talked a friend into buying the Dark Vengeance set as well and he wants to play the Chaos army. So we were gonna trade the opposing army to one another for a larger one to work with.

I was wondering if there would be any restrictions in using all the units combined in my overall DA army. I don't think there are any exclusive or limited units/named heroes in the set as neither of us got the limited edition bundle.

Hoping I can use all of the pieces so no money is wasted.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I saw something on the forums earlier. One of the DA players was talking about how he ran 2 Meltaguns for his ravenwings.

Does this mean he ran 2 per guy in the unit or just 2 meltas for the entire squad?

Sorry, a lot of questions and nobody near me atm plays warhammer so I'm lookin to the experts

You absolutely need to buy a Codex (and your buddy too) this will answer all your questions about equipment etc and is absolutely essential if you want to play games outside of the DV missions and models.

 azreal13 wrote:
You absolutely need to buy a Codex (and your buddy too) this will answer all your questions about equipment etc and is absolutely essential if you want to play games outside of the DV missions and models.

Definitely doing that, just trying to find a good deal for it atm.

One final question and then im off for a bit.

Before I read up on all the different weapons and such, I glues one of my DA arms on in position to hold the handle bars. In an earlier reply someone said I can simply glue the additional weapons to a leg or somewhere else on the bike which I plan on doing, but do you think it will be an issue later on as my guy isn't technically holding said weapon in combat?

I ran into people who care about things like these so I wanna be sure it is okay that I do this.

Zodiark wrote:
but do you think it will be an issue later on as my guy isn't technically holding said weapon in combat?

There is absolutely no need in the rules to be holding the weapon, only for it to be on the model.

Regarding combining two DV sets, there's nothing to prevent you aside from ending up with too many HQ choices - the second librarian can 'easily' be converted to be mounted on a bike, but it's trickier finding a use for the second Company Master.

 Quanar wrote:

Zodiark wrote:
but do you think it will be an issue later on as my guy isn't technically holding said weapon in combat?

There is absolutely no need in the rules to be holding the weapon, only for it to be on the model.

Regarding combining two DV sets, there's nothing to prevent you aside from ending up with too many HQ choices - the second librarian can 'easily' be converted to be mounted on a bike, but it's trickier finding a use for the second Company Master.

Would the librarian then be the squad leader of those 6 bikes like the sergeant is in the Ravenwing Battle force?

No, characters fall into two specific types, independent characters and upgrade characters.

Sergeants are typically upgrade characters, so are purchased (or sometimes included) with the unit. ICs are purchased (usually) by themselves, but can then be assigned to a unit during the game.

Many ICs are HQ choices, including the Librarian, and you are limited to only two HQ choices in a typical game.

I see, so how would I go about using those 6 bikes in my army?

You can either use the 6 bikes as a single unit (make it clear which sergeant is the "real" one), or as two units of three - my suggestion would leave you with a unit of 5 bikes, and the option of using the librarian either on foot or on bike (or use both and leave the company master at home). It's entirely up to you.

1) If the wording says "May take...." then its an additional weapon. if it says "May replace...." or "May exchange..." then it removes the other weapon.

2) The stock model for those bikes are the actual weapon it comes with by default. i forget what they are off hand, i dont play that race, but its the same for any model.

3) Best way to get additional bits is to either troll eBay, find a bits selling website (warning those can be pricy) or find someone that also has marines of some sort that would be willing to sell you some spare bits.

4) Since theyre not a vehicle, you can model the additional weapon however you want. This allows some pretty crazy custom models that are totally legal to field, since the gun plays no factor in aiming compared to where its physically sitting.

5) Thats a question to ask your opponent before hand. Most players are cool with "proxy" play especially if youre new, just as long as its clearly obvious what is what (as in, dont have the same exact marine be two different units, remembering which is which purely by where they are on the board. Even using an obviously different gun is enough of a difference to avoid this issue)