Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I am a dark angels player myself and I play a mix of both with added in 3rd company but as I look on the interwebs at other list all I see is list specifically for Ravenwing or Deathwing why is this can someone explain because so far in 7th my mixed list is undefeated with a 1-0-3 record and I have tabled opponets round 3 in 6th and had a decent record in 6th using the mix , could someone please explain the appeal of a one sided army to me please?

 tmo38 wrote:
I am a dark angels player myself and I play a mix of both with added in 3rd company but as I look on the interwebs at other list all I see is list specifically for Ravenwing or Deathwing why is this can someone explain because so far in 7th my mixed list is undefeated with a 1-0-3 record and I have tabled opponets round 3 in 6th and had a decent record in 6th using the mix , could someone please explain the appeal of a one sided army to me please?

They like the fluff

I thought about playing DA, and when I did I considered an all Ravenwing army because I don't like Terminators that much and bikes appeal to me.

When I did make a DA successor army it featured both though.

I to play mixed Dark Angels (although with a slant towards 3rd co and Deathwing) and occasionally I will run the Deathwing solo. The reason I suspect people go for 'pure-wing' armies is because, if you want a mixed list, you can do just the same in a C:SM list. Unless you're bringing more than 3 squad or Bikes or Terminators, C:SM can do exactly the same, and some would argue better. So it's a case of taking advantage of the unique aspects of DA to get the character of the army that is ultimately what the codex encourages you to do.

From a tactical viewpoint, it allows you to double down on the strengths of a certain aspect, with the downside of doubling the weakness as well. An all-terminator force can hit super-hard when it works, but at the same time, every failed save is costing 40+ points, which is not something you get in a mixed wing. Similarly, an all-Ravenwing force will be hugely mobile, at the expense of suffering to Ignores Cover weapons and model count. If, though, you can deal with those inherent weaknesses, you get the pure and undiluted strength of one side or the other, which can be lethal.

As for why people sometimes don't mix DW and RW, it's probably just because they don't like bikes or termies respectively. I personally hate painting bikes and think terminators are awesome, hence why I often run pure Deathwing.

Mixed is the best tactically speaking.

Although I guess you could call my DA army a Ravenwing one as it uses Sam as the HQ and full squads of bikes / speeders as troops, I auto include a squad of knights as a turn 2 deep-strike on my homing beacons which can seriously tear up some units. At higher points I also like to include another squad of "shooty" termies which is fun (and besides, the one termie with the Battletec like rocket system on his shoulders is just badass)

I have enough termies or bikes to run 2500 points of a mono wing army but I have found mixing all 3 wings will generally result in the best list. I usually run a hammer and anvil setup, with ravenwing and greenwing forming the hammer and my deathwing forming the anvil. By that I mean the deathwing drop in behind and give the enemy nowhere to run while the greenwing rains down firepower from the from with ravenwing closing the gap while laying down a lot of firepower.

1.) It's cheap. Buying deathwing from DV is, BY FAR, the cheapest 40k army, bar none. Even if it weren't for this, they're still points-intensive models, so you still don't have to buy many of them.

2.) It's fun. Both ravenwing and deathwing get into the fight very quickly and start doing stuff. You don't have to hem and haw about how to get where you want to go, or what to do about gunlines.

3.) It's fluffy. Not that other terminator or bike armies aren't, but it's easier to be fluffy with these because there's more fluff for them.

4.) It's... well, not unique, but sort of rare. Nothing does deathwing quite like deathwing, which means that going for a deathwing army is one of the reasons people play DA in the first place.

5.) Not all people play wing DA. There's also the bolter banner of doom army, and the lists built around the murderbox. To say nothing about more conventional SM lists (like drop pods, etc.)

I love the banner of devastation, it makes bolters terrifying, I use it in most lists.

I originally picked up Dark Angels because I wanted an all terminator army, then I added some normal marines to fill in some gaps and now I've,added ravenwing to fill in other gaps in my list. I also added some contemptor mortis dreads,to bring some AA to the army with ought adding flyers.

With the changes to jink my ravenwing got a bit weaker in there ability to kill things but they live so much longer now and can still just run around grabbing objectives, and snap firing twin linked bolters with a banner of devastation nearby is still pretty nice. Heck even the plasma guns on my ravenwing command squad snapfirirng can be awesome(the other day I had 7out of 8 hit on over watch).

Because if you arent playing one of those then you are just playing codex space marines without all the toys.

I love my dangles for all the cool equipment, while I think the codex lacks some inspiration in how it was written it absolutely oooozes character, even though it's overcosted by a mile I love giving my captain a displacer field, it's funny as hell when it displaces me out of charge range or into it haha

kingleir wrote:
Because if you arent playing one of those then you are just playing codex space marines without all the toys.

not true as you can take azrael and take both with the deathwing assault and the ravenwings speed both ,not taking both sides seems to deprave from the full dark angels experience as you don't get to see how both work together in harmony

Formosa wrote:I love my dangles for all the cool equipment, while I think the codex lacks some inspiration in how it was written it absolutely oooozes character, even though it's overcosted by a mile I love giving my captain a displacer field, it's funny as hell when it displaces me out of charge range or into it haha

It is hilarious when that happens and some of the rage from the opponents makes it all the more fun.

tmo38 wrote:

kingleir wrote:
Because if you arent playing one of those then you are just playing codex space marines without all the toys.

not true as you can take azrael and take both with the deathwing assault and the ravenwings speed both ,not taking both sides seems to deprave from the full dark angels experience as you don't get to see how both work together in harmony

They work together so well even, the bikes all have homing beacons so you can deep strike the termies turn two(and DWA guarantees you get them turn 2) and land them near your bikes deep in enemy territory with no scatter. Bringing some tactical squads is great as well for just sitting in the backfield holding objectives so your opponent cant grab them easily(thank you objective secured) and if they come up as one you need you've already got them covered(had 3 games this weekend where I scored ~10vp each game, the backfield units got me about 4 of them each game just by being there).

kingleir wrote:Because if you arent playing one of those then you are just playing codex space marines without all the toys.

I was going to agree with this, but, though somewhat subtle, there are other differences than just their basic terminators and bikes. And not just the bolter banner either. They also have their inner circle stuff, which you don't need to field an army devoted to deathwing to take, and they also have their different speeders, which you don't need to take a ravenwing army for. Not that it matters that much, but they also get to field different fliers, and they also still get to keep their whirlwinds, plus the other little DA bits, like wargear and warlord traits.

Yeah, deathwing and ravenwing armies are what most differentiates them from regular marines, but it's not the only thing.

 tmo38 wrote:

kingleir wrote:
Because if you arent playing one of those then you are just playing codex space marines without all the toys.

not true as you can take azrael and take both with the deathwing assault and the ravenwings speed both ,not taking both sides seems to deprave from the full dark angels experience as you don't get to see how both work together in harmony

To be honest, Azrael is the biggest waste of points you could possibly take in your army. You are better off running Sammael/Belial and getting the same result.

People play DA for the fluff, hence the fluffy armies. If you want to win, you will be better served bringing literally any other army.

Can we get a 'neither' option? I use Dark Angels tacticals just to pay the ante so I can get a Darkshroud in my army.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Chumbalaya wrote:
People play DA for the fluff, hence the fluffy armies. If you want to win, you will be better served bringing literally any other army.

Except Blood Angels.

What does codex Dark Angels bring to the table other Marine armies can't? Besides a few pieces of wargear it's pretty much deathwing and Ravenwing things. I play Ravenwing because I have some sort of unhealthy obsession with Black Knights specifically though.

I use 14 knights in my army and Sammael. I don't win a lot.

Yeah, but you do it in style

Oh it looks fantastic- and I get a great look at my models as I pull them all off the board by turn 4!

Where is the "Other" or "All of the above" option on the poll?