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Thinking about dabbling in 40k with the Dark Angels. never played a game or even read the rules but I like the look of them. If I wanted to start at 500 pts just to kind of get my feet wet what should I start with? Seems like a lot of armies lean towards deathwing or rave wing, is that right or have I been looking in the wrong spots? Should I start with the space marine getting started box or dark vengeance? Leaning towards dark vengeance but if it means I'll stop using the models because their fixed load outs aren't any good I'd rather just start with all my options available. I'd like the 500 pts to be something I can build on and not just models that gets abandoned

Ravenwing is definitely the strongest aspect of our codex. Starting with the dark angel half of the dark vengeance box gives you a little bit of everything to see what you like and dislike. Its roughly 650pts depending on how you kit things out. When you really want to see what Dark Angel bikes can do, get Ravenwing Black Knights and Dark Shrouds.

NOPE! SAVE YOUR MONEY AND WALK AWAY!

You will really like X-Wing.

You have absolutely NO idea as to whether Ust66 will like X-Wing. He is asking about 40k, talk about 40k, I'm sure he can figure out the prices easily enough.

I assume you take wide approach to 40k, in that you like the story and images, want to spend time painting the miniatures to a decent standard, and want to play the game.

Next thing you will have to do is to ask yourself how competitive you and your oppnents are gonna be. Will your games be storydriven or driven by competitive play? If driven by the former you should go with wgar looks cool and fit your idea of a backstory. If driven by the latter you should start with getting some Ravenwing black knights, and then some more. They work well at a high competitive level.

Rules of 40k.

New In Box = 100%-90% mssrp
Assembled = 70%-50% mssrp
Primed = 60%-40% mssrp
Painted = 50%-30% mssrp
"Pro" Painted= 40%-20% mssrp

Big name Renowned Professional painted with Golden demon title = 200%- 300% mssrp

For competitiveness
Newb Cheese= Eldar with pyscher on jet bikes and boat load of scat bikes and eldar wraith knights = easy button no need to think win.

Time settting up a game = 30 min -1 hour.
Play time divided by 4-5 hours:
Time rolling for random stuff...20%
Time waiting for opponents to decide what they are doing 20%
Time spent looking up rules, arguing the rules as written and rules intended 50%
Time forging the "Narrative" because GW sucks at writing clear concise and fair rules. 9%
Time actually playing the game of the 5 hours wasted ...1%...

Thanks to those who gave constructive answers to my questions. The others need to find a better hobby. Tried Xwing but now getting out of it. Want to buy some ships?

Yeah, never mind the cynical buzzards.

Dark Vengeance isn't a terrible place to start. You can expand out from there easily enough. Dark Angels are both pretty cool and fairly effective. They're not finishing absolute top tier at the big tournaments, but I suspect that's not a big deal. In casual settings or even moderate-scale tournaments they do well. Ravenwing bikers - especially Black Knights and Command Squads - are very effective. That much plasma will hurt almost anything, and that many Rending attacks will usually kill off the survivors. They can be durable too.

Also, as Armies of the Imperium, they inherit a ton of options from other codices. So, if you decide one day that you just like, say, Grey Knights better, you can pick them up and play them alongside the Dark Angels in the same game quite easily. You can really do that with any armies, but it's easier for Imperials. On top of that, they're Space Marines, with most of the goodies that come with that - you'll almost never be left entirely out in the cold, even if the codex gets left to age and grow mold. (6e Dark Angels got done dirty, but the 7e book fixed that and then some, so I wouldn't worry about getting hung out to dry!)

Also I am a new player but I have spent a lot of time with rules, army lists, and watching battle reps and games in stores. Wraith Knights are not as invincible as you might think, I have seen them go down to an attachment of Lancer Knights, granted not everyone has the money for FW Lancer Knights, but the Wraith Knights are not so Godly unstoppable if you play well and counter unit them effectively.

As for the part about "wasted time" that was said by someone who took the time to log in to a war gaming forum, specifically on a 40K thread just to talk about what a waste of time it is,...lawl. Yeeeeerrrp. Just pop the trolls with a bolter.

Mitochondria wrote:
You will really like X-Wing.

Xwing is a on its downward death cycle
It's run out of known canon ships and has entered the obscure ugly ship phase or rebooting the same ship 5x phase.
It's enjoyed its first 3-4 years of cheap starter games and with easy clear rules and has entered the age of 1000 upgrade cards and a booklet of faqs brining with it the current tournament winning netlist stage.
Nothing is simple in it anymore as every new ship type has some new unique ability further obscuring the game.
Furthermore the game now seems to have more people quiting then joining.
My local hobby shops xwing racks have gotten smaller and further back into the corner of the store.
On the flip side armada seems to be at its peak now with new campaigns but these are not sustainable minature games.

On 40k imho it's probably the best time to start as it is entering its reboot and major campaign beginning stage. So you have about 6 months to put together and paint a small force learn the basic mechanics and then buy a 8th edition rulebook and have at least 3-4 years of a new hopefully improved edition at a point where GW is hitting all the right notes regarding releases.

 CardBoardKing wrote:
Also I am a new player but I have spent a lot of time with rules, army lists, and watching battle reps and games in stores. Wraith Knights are not as invincible as you might think, I have seen them go down to an attachment of Lancer Knights, granted not everyone has the money for FW Lancer Knights, but the Wraith Knights are not so Godly unstoppable if you play well and counter unit them effectively.

As for the part about "wasted time" that was said by someone who took the time to log in to a war gaming forum, specifically on a 40K thread just to talk about what a waste of time it is,...lawl. Yeeeeerrrp. Just pop the trolls with a bolter.

Wraith Knights are easily killed by grav. Only space marines carry grav weaponry from the vaults of 30k...not chaos...the same chaos space marines who jumped into the warp to re-immerge 10k years later...carrying zero tech from 30k...dude where is my land speeder abaddon?!....

 CadianGateTroll wrote:


Wraith Knights are easily killed by grav. Only space marines carry grav weaponry from the vaults of 30k...not chaos...the same chaos space marines who jumped into the warp to re-immerge 10k years later...carrying zero tech from 30k...dude where is my land speeder abaddon?!....

No my point was you made it seem as if the WK are simply unstoppable, they are not unstoppable. Also why complain about the game on it's dedicated forum and them talk about it being a waste of time and be a hater? Just doesn't make much sense.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

gungo wrote:

Mitochondria wrote:
You will really like X-Wing.

On 40k imho it's probably the best time to start as it is entering its reboot and major campaign beginning stage. So you have about 6 months to put together and paint a small force learn the basic mechanics and then buy a 8th edition rulebook and have at least 3-4 years of a new hopefully improved edition at a point where GW is hitting all the right notes regarding releases.

This, anyone with an eye for these things can see that it is a good time to finally get into 40k if you haven't. I am all brushed up on 8th ed, and have ordered a lot of the codices through our local library, so that is a huge way you can save money on things. I also got a paid a pretty decent tyranid army pro painted for a painting commission, so painting people's stuff is a good way to start as well. It also free'd me to spend money on what SM chapters I wanted. I think GW is doing a good job of getting their house in order and the game will see a cool influx of new customers and gamers. You heard it here! =D

Omg mr. verbatim, can you read the cynical sarcastic tone?

GW and 40k is a nothin but an expensive joke.

GW CEO, "Our customers are so stupid we can offer half as much miniatures but charge twice as much! We can also write rules like bethesda rushes out their games needing many versions of patches due to so many glitches since we can tell our buyers to 'Forge the narrative'! Our sales are so good we can tell our customers to go Feth off and next week they come back dropping hundreds of dollars on our laps! We literally have 30-50yo who buy and play this game ment for children!"

Thinking about getting the betrayal at Caleb set to expand dark vengeance. Can the dark angels field the contempt or dread ought and cataphracti terminators?

Ust66 wrote:Thinking about getting the betrayal at Caleb set to expand dark vengeance. Can the dark angels field the contempt or dread ought and cataphracti terminators?

No, only the vanilla space marine codex unfortunately.

CadianGateTroll wrote:Omg mr. verbatim, can you read the cynical sarcastic tone?

GW and 40k is a nothin but an expensive joke.

GW CEO, "Our customers are so stupid we can offer half as much miniatures but charge twice as much! We can also write rules like bethesda rushes out their games needing many versions of patches due to so many glitches since we can tell our buyers to 'Forge the narrative'! Our sales are so good we can tell our customers to go Feth off and next week they come back dropping hundreds of dollars on our laps! We literally have 30-50yo who buy and play this game ment for children!"

An expensive joke that a lot of people enjoy, and obviously you yourself have some interest in. No need to get pissy. If 40k isn't for you, don't ruin someone else's fun with tour hatred for GW.

My best recommendation is imagine how you want the army to look and feel and build one that does that. I.e. if Dark Angels on bikes sounds appealing to you make a theamed list around that. Rules seem to always be changing but how you feel about your army when you put it down should always make you happy. I play almost exclusively with friends in fun battles and its easy to tweak lists to make them balanced and fun. Never mind all of the people complaining about narrative play, just pick the models you like and play the game.

To be fair, I run two armies. The first is air Calvary grey knights (dual storm ravens loaded with termies and Xiphon support). The second is MSU black legion (chosen in rhinos). Neither wins very much but both are a load of fun which is why I play.

 CadianGateTroll wrote:
NOPE! SAVE YOUR MONEY AND WALK AWAY!

Sadly, this. DA do not have a good time in 40k.

 Selym wrote:

 CadianGateTroll wrote:
NOPE! SAVE YOUR MONEY AND WALK AWAY!

Sadly, this. DA do not have a good time in 40k.

Thank you for acknowledgeing me.

DA are brokingly good atm. 2+ re-rollable cover anyone?

 koooaei wrote:
DA are brokingly good atm. 2+ re-rollable cover anyone?

DA either suck in game, or get slated for taking their only good choices.

Ust66 wrote:
Thinking about getting the betrayal at Caleb set to expand dark vengeance. Can the dark angels field the contempt or dread ought and cataphracti terminators?

How much you will enjoy 40k is going to vary more on things specifc to you than specific to the game itself. If you have a good community, if you enjoy building and painting, and you have a decent patience with an admittedly poorly written and edited rule set, You can have a ton of fun with 40k. Just like if you only game with Jerks, the best game in the world sucks.

My advice is more practical: start small. It's easy to buy 40k, but it takes a while to build and paint. Don't buy $400 worth of stuff only to find you don't care for it.

 Selym wrote:

 koooaei wrote:
DA are brokingly good atm. 2+ re-rollable cover anyone?

DA either suck in game, or get slated for taking their only good choices.

It's like saying eldar have always been weak. If you take bad stuff, you're weak, if you take good stuff noone plays with you.

 koooaei wrote:

 Selym wrote:

 koooaei wrote:
DA are brokingly good atm. 2+ re-rollable cover anyone?

DA either suck in game, or get slated for taking their only good choices.

It's like saying eldar have always been weak. If you take bad stuff, you're weak, if you take good stuff noone plays with you.

Eldar don't have weak units. Only ones you didn't use for their role.

I'd suggest trying out Kill Team with your Dark Angels.

Dark Vengeance gives a great selection of Dark Angels models at a nice price.

You might also want to look into Battle for Vedros. The rules are simplified 40K, but you get a Space Marine in Terminator Armor, a Tactical Squad, and a Dreadnaught, along with an Ork Force, for $50.

How do you even get Battle for Vendros? I can't find it anywhere...

I bought a Battle For Vedros on Amazon for $40 when it came out, but my 2 local gaming shops both carry Battle for Vedros.

GW didn't market it to gaming shops, but the regional sales reps are happy to sell it to any retailer that wants it, at least in the US.

 adamsouza wrote:
I bought a Battle For Vedros on Amazon for $40 when it came out, but my 2 local gaming shops both carry Battle for Vedros.

GW didn't market it to gaming shops, but the regional sales reps are happy to sell it to any retailer that wants it, at least in the US.

After a scout around the US, UK and FR amazon sitesb I still can't find it...

DV is a good place to start for a DA player. You can sell off the chaos minis pretty easily as well. At least ONE person in your group will like having chaos cultists. DV will give you a taste of everything that the DA can do. From there you can build your list to your play style. Enjoy the hobby, and enjoy the forums here. Just don't feed the trolls.

Xwing is a on its downward death cycle

You realize the game is at the top of sales charts, above 40K?