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So.. I'v been thinking about Dark Angels for a long time but never took the plunge to start them (Other then splitting a Dark Vengeance box with a friend, Mostly to get the rule book) but, I am curious about the Ravenwing part of the army. Is a Ravenwing army fun? Is it playable on it's own?

Yes, it's quite good. Not the best, but quite good.

They have some real good stuff. rerolling jink saves are brutal. My personal favorite unit is the Ravenwing Support Squadron. It gives you access to imperial interceptor which is exceptionally rare.

Probably the major reason to play the DA book over any other Space Marine book.

 Xenomancers wrote:
They have some real good stuff. rerolling jink saves are brutal. My personal favorite unit is the Ravenwing Support Squadron. It gives you access to imperial interceptor which is exceptionally rare.

Next year, I plan to get the DA codex to get this formation.

How difficult is it to pair DA with generic Space Marines?

I like the idea of a hybrid army where I could have good terminators & bikes, but still some of the stronger support units of SM like Centurion Devastator Squads... or perhaps sternguard vet squad.

I've only ever run RW formations or used them as part of my army, never an entire army on their own, but they seem decently powered. Black knights are pretty powerful if you use them well, really shine with bike librarians and darkshrouds supporting them, but are glass cannons if your opponent ignores cover or hits before you in melee. Basic bikes are okay, I don't use land speeders but they have some cool formations, never use the land speeder vengeance, and the darktalon (if you don't get a lucky D off) and nephilim are pretty meh. You'd definitely need to have a lot of melta/grav on your basic bikes, and the overall low model count would be hard to work with, but it's definitely doable.

AnomanderRake wrote:Probably the major reason to play the DA book over any other Space Marine book.

Don't forget the cool robes!

Marmatag wrote:How difficult is it to pair DA with generic Space Marines?

Are you talking DA in general, or RW/DW? RW is the stuff that most people want from our codex, there's a formation that lets you take as little or as much as you like. 1 HQ (usually a librarian) and 2 fast attack minimum I think.

Ravenwing are quite competitive if used correctly, as others have said the ravens shield formations is excellent, bs5 from strafing run, over watch for friendly units within 24"! And quite resilient with a 4+ cover save in the open (attach a dark shroud to them) , I run a full 5 speeder and shroud, speeders armed with typhoons and hb, very nasty unit ☺

I love my Ravenwing, although I don't have enough of them to run a full tournament list of nothing but them. They are fun to pair up with Deathwing Terminators, but terminators of any variety are not great for their points. If you really like a bike army (with a few skimmers thrown in for variety), Ravenwing is probably the best option.

I'm not completely sold on the Support Squadron, though. That Interceptor and Overwatch ability, combined with Strafing Run, is very nice, but it's not so great if it has to Jink. Sure, you get a 2+ rerollable save and so won't lose many hull points, but if I was facing it I'd point something at it every single turn just to make it jink and have to snap shoot. I tried running the formation once, and it did okay, but it had to jink an awful lot, which just nerfed its firepower.

Martel732 wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:
They have some real good stuff. rerolling jink saves are brutal. My personal favorite unit is the Ravenwing Support Squadron. It gives you access to imperial interceptor which is exceptionally rare.

Next year, I plan to get the DA codex to get this formation.

It is pretty good - I'd recommend the dark shroud but the plasma variant does pretty well too.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I love my Ravenwing, although I don't have enough of them to run a full tournament list of nothing but them. They are fun to pair up with Deathwing Terminators, but terminators of any variety are not great for their points. If you really like a bike army (with a few skimmers thrown in for variety), Ravenwing is probably the best option.

I'm not completely sold on the Support Squadron, though. That Interceptor and Overwatch ability, combined with Strafing Run, is very nice, but it's not so great if it has to Jink. Sure, you get a 2+ rerollable save and so won't lose many hull points, but if I was facing it I'd point something at it every single turn just to make it jink and have to snap shoot. I tried running the formation once, and it did okay, but it had to jink an awful lot, which just nerfed its firepower.

This has been my experience too, and when you have almost 350 points tied up in a formation that has to Snap Shoot the whole game, things get underwhelming fast.

They won't be shooting it in my list.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I love my Ravenwing, although I don't have enough of them to run a full tournament list of nothing but them. They are fun to pair up with Deathwing Terminators, but terminators of any variety are not great for their points. If you really like a bike army (with a few skimmers thrown in for variety), Ravenwing is probably the best option.

I'm not completely sold on the Support Squadron, though. That Interceptor and Overwatch ability, combined with Strafing Run, is very nice, but it's not so great if it has to Jink. Sure, you get a 2+ rerollable save and so won't lose many hull points, but if I was facing it I'd point something at it every single turn just to make it jink and have to snap shoot. I tried running the formation once, and it did okay, but it had to jink an awful lot, which just nerfed its firepower.

Ah - but the idea is you jink in their shooting phase and intercept in their phase. Always shoot at full BS and always have a 2+ cover save. Sure if they dont have any reserves it's not going to work out like that but if you play in a meta where reserves are common (like mine) this formation is a gem. Even without reserves though - you can stick this unit in a forest and no one will bother shooting at it with a 3+ cover save. Plus LS are really efficient firepower on their own anyways. It's not a must include as blackknights are pretty dang good but as an anti alpha strike unit it's very potent.

Are you talking DA in general, or RW/DW? RW is the stuff that most people want from our codex, there's a formation that lets you take as little or as much as you like. 1 HQ (usually a librarian) and 2 fast attack minimum I think.

I really like DW. RW is nice too.

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-SE/Dark-Angels-Deathwing-Knights
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-SE/Dark-Angels-Deathwing-Terminator-Squad
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-SE/Dark-Angels-Deathwing-Command-Squad

I played Deathwing and green wing all during the old edition codex. As soon as the new one came out I built a 1850 ravenwing army and never looked back I made a necron decurion formation player rage quit with my list.