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What Are The Dark Angels SM Lore Tactics, And Army Composition?

The Dark Angels are a semi-codex compliment chapter. Their 1st Company (the Deathwing) is composed entirely of Terminator-armored brothers, and their 2nd (the Ravenwing) is made up of all Bikers/speeders. Their remaining companies mirror that of the codex. The purpose of the differing first 2 companies has to do with their back story. The long and short of it being, they exist to track (2nd Company) and capture/kill (1st Company) the Fallen (corrupted former members of the Dark Angels still around from then they were a legion, as opposed to the current chapter)

I thought that all chapters' first companies are supposed to be able to be fully fielded as terminators, it's just most can't or don't? (Essentially, their only non-standard practices are some wargear and their second company?)

 spiralingcadaver wrote:
I thought that all chapters' first companies are supposed to be able to be fully fielded as terminators, it's just most can't or don't? (Essentially, their only non-standard practices are some wargear and their second company?)

Most chapters 1st Company are all their veterans. They're terminators, sternguard, and vanguard veterans. DA differ there in that the Deathwing is entirely terminators (and some Venerable Dreadnoughts, as well), although not everyone is necessarily a "veteran" by the definition that other chapters use. In the DA, each Company maintains its own Veterans, who are not terminator armored, as opposed to placing them all in the 1st Company. Additionally, their purpose and command structure is different. The DA are structured (command wise) in a series of concentric circles, with the Deathwing being the innermost circle (and thereby privy to the chapters secrets).

And the view from the outside is just that their differences are a modified 2nd Company and non-standard wargear. Which is the point of the whole "circle of trust" thing in the first place.

Edited for typos. And syntax.

Also, I'm Kind Of New To Table Top Wargaming And Warhammer As A Whole, But I'm Trying To Right A Little Story In The Warhammer 40k Universe, So I Looking For A Much Information On SMs And DAs As I Can, But I Have Some Questions About How DAs Would Handle Certain Situations, And Some Other Things About Them.

Theoretically all chapters should be able to field a full 1st company in terminator suits, but a lot of chapters simply don't have that much. Plus Codex Astartes dictate they should have different variations like Sternguard and Vanguards.

Dark Angels are special in that not only do the first company take to the field in exclusively Terminator Armor, but they're also rumored to have an abnormal amount of such suits as well (it's rumored they can field up to 200 Deathwing Terminators should the need call for it). Another reason is because, to progress through the chain of promotions, you have to be privied to secrets. Thus unlike other chapters, Deathwing and Ravenwing are seldom attached to other companies like other chapter's veterans. This results in the roles of "veterans" being filled by Company Veterans (as in, the senior members of each company below the 2nd and 1st) rather than members of the 1st company as it suppose to be.

Due to the way you are promoted (i.e knowing a certain amount about the chapter's lore) there have been times where rookies were promoted ahead of their seniors, if only because they got exposed to secrets they're not suppose to know about yet, but was deemed "safe" by the Inner Circle to not be a liability. Those that are deemed a liability are either executed or mindscrubbed into servitors. This means that, yes, a lot of extremely competent veterans who were deemed "not safe" were turned into servitors simply because they learned something they shouldn't have. They seem to also be selective on what someone can know and not know, as apparently Sammael *should* have known the full story (as all Masters must be inducted into Deathwing) but due to the way he was promoted, he only learned the Ravenwing portion of the lore and is currently the only Master that isn't a member of Deathwing.

The 2nd company, Ravenwing, is also in charge of their aircrafts for some reason. This is different because usually junior techmarines are responsible for piloting vehicles of any kind. This again means that, unlike other chapters, individual companies don't have a complimentary set of aircrafts but instead get "loaned" members from Ravenwing. Same goes for their speeders.

They're also known to field the lesser-known variant of the Dreadnought known as the "Mortis Dreadnought", which is the long range counterpart to the Blood Angel's Furioso Dreadnought. The Mortis mounts two of the same long range weapon (other than the Autocannon), losing the power fist for more firepower. While other chapters do have access to this dreadnought, only the Dark Angel and their successors are known to field them in large numbers.

Finally, one of the more notable tactics of the Dark Angels is that the Ravenwing and Deathwing companies are usually used in tandem, with all Ravenwing Bikers carrying Teleport homers specifically for their Deathwing Brethren to deepstrike to. Again, while other chapters are capable of this, few use this type of tactic as much as the Dark Angels and their successors.

As for weapons, the Dark Angels have a preference for Plasma Weaponry, and a lot of their units can field plasma cannons, guns and other plasma-based weaponry while other chapters can't (or can only rarely do).

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
Theoretically all chapters should be able to field a full 1st company in terminator suits, but a lot of chapters simply don't have that much. Plus Codex Astartes dictate they should have different variations like Sternguard and Vanguards.

Dark Angels are special in that not only do the first company take to the field in exclusively Terminator Armor, but they're also rumored to have an abnormal amount of such suits as well (it's rumored they can field up to 200 Deathwing Terminators should the need call for it). Another reason is because, to progress through the chain of promotions, you have to be privied to secrets. Thus unlike other chapters, Deathwing and Ravenwing are seldom attached to other companies like other chapter's veterans. This results in the roles of "veterans" being filled by Company Veterans (as in, the senior members of each company below the 2nd and 1st) rather than members of the 1st company as it suppose to be.

Due to the way you are promoted (i.e knowing a certain amount about the chapter's lore) there have been times where rookies were promoted ahead of their seniors, if only because they got exposed to secrets they're not suppose to know about yet, but was deemed "safe" by the Inner Circle to not be a liability. Those that are deemed a liability are either executed or mindscrubbed into servitors. This means that, yes, a lot of extremely competent veterans who were deemed "not safe" were turned into servitors simply because they learned something they shouldn't have. They seem to also be selective on what someone can know and not know, as apparently Sammael *should* have known the full story (as all Masters must be inducted into Deathwing) but due to the way he was promoted, he only learned the Ravenwing portion of the lore and is currently the only Master that isn't a member of Deathwing.

The 2nd company, Ravenwing, is also in charge of their aircrafts for some reason. This is different because usually junior techmarines are responsible for piloting vehicles of any kind. This again means that, unlike other chapters, individual companies don't have a complimentary set of aircrafts but instead get "loaned" members from Ravenwing. Same goes for their speeders.

They're also known to field the lesser-known variant of the Dreadnought known as the "Mortis Dreadnought", which is the long range counterpart to the Blood Angel's Furioso Dreadnought. The Mortis mounts two of the same long range weapon (other than the Autocannon), losing the power fist for more firepower. While other chapters do have access to this dreadnought, only the Dark Angel and their successors are known to field them in large numbers.

Finally, one of the more notable tactics of the Dark Angels is that the Ravenwing and Deathwing companies are usually used in tandem, with all Ravenwing Bikers carrying Teleport homers specifically for their Deathwing Brethren to deepstrike to. Again, while other chapters are capable of this, few use this type of tactic as much as the Dark Angels and their successors.

As for weapons, the Dark Angels have a preference for Plasma Weaponry, and a lot of their units can field plasma cannons, guns and other plasma-based weaponry while other chapters can't (or can only rarely do).

Thanks For The Help.

 spiralingcadaver wrote:
I thought that all chapters' first companies are supposed to be able to be fully fielded as terminators, it's just most can't or don't? (Essentially, their only non-standard practices are some wargear and their second company?)

While it is true that the majority of Chapters do not have the ability to field their First Company fully wearing TDA many field their First Company in power armour in the majority of combats out of choice. Veterans elevated into the First companies retain their power armour but are then trained in the use of Terminator armour. TDA is then deployed based on the needs of the situation and even then often only in small numbers. TDA is designed for ship to ship fighting and in contacts in other confined spaces where the armours weaknesses are less of an issue. This makes First Company veterans very flexible even amongst the Astartes and as such, in Codex compliant Chapters, are often seconded to fight alongside other companies in Task Forces so are rarely all in one place. This precedent to deploy in power armour in conventional battles is carried on all the way to the top of Chapters, Marneus Calgar of the Ultramarines primarily fights in his artificer Corvus pattern plate, donning his Terminator armour only when the situation dictates.

The DA seem to be the exception to this in that, as has been previously mentioned, they have an unusually large amount of TDA and will drop everything at the mention of a potential sighting of the Fallen so will sometimes have a large number of Deathwing Terminators in a single combat zone at the same time.

Other Chapters are also noted as fielding a large number of TDA include the Salamanders who, I have noted in books, will deploy Firedrakes in Terminator plate in cities and even more open battlefields where their lack of mobility and potential exposure to increased fire might be considered an ill suited battleground for Terminators in the eyes of a more Codex adherent Chapter.

The Minotaurs are also noted as having a very large number of TDA suits and given that they tend to deploy to battlezones as a full Company rather than splitting up as most other Chapters they can also be seen to field a full First Company in Terminator armour.

If I recall, the original reason that TDA is used sparingly is because 1.) in older fluff it was very hard to make them and some chapters don't get resupplied at all (if they were naughty with the AdMech) so the suits are treated just like relics and 2.) TDA limits mobility. While it grants superior protection and the ability to carry heavier weapons, it's unwieldy and cumbersome compared to Power Armor, which is why they're only deployed on special occasions; the astartes would have to be assured that the protection is a far better tradeoff than losing the agility they naturally have in power armor.

Deathwing is special because, again, they have an abnormally high number of suits and because they often have Deathwing deploy via teleporters, which is only possible enmasse in TDA armor. That and it stems from a Heresy-era habit of dedicating one company to each specialization (which only the first and second company retained).

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
If I recall, the original reason that TDA is used sparingly is because 1.) in older fluff it was very hard to make them and some chapters don't get resupplied at all (if they were naughty with the AdMech) so the suits are treated just like relics and 2.) TDA limits mobility. While it grants superior protection and the ability to carry heavier weapons, it's unwieldy and cumbersome compared to Power Armor, which is why they're only deployed on special occasions; the astartes would have to be assured that the protection is a far better tradeoff than losing the agility they naturally have in power armor.

Deathwing is special because, again, they have an abnormally high number of suits and because they often have Deathwing deploy via teleporters, which is only possible enmasse in TDA armor. That and it stems from a Heresy-era habit of dedicating one company to each specialization (which only the first and second company retained).

Very few outside the first founding have full company in terminator plate.

Dark angles are unique in how closely there successors are linked, and under the Chapter masters influence.

That too. Unfortunately the perception caused by every single important chapter (whether they're first founding or not) getting "exceptions" has caused it to feel like everyone has a full set (either they're chummy with the AdMech, have a bunch of relics for some reason, were given them for some specific purpose, or just happened upon them).

Then again that's a common problem with SM fluff.

They are basically a standard marine chapter with a lot of preference for terminators and plasma weapons and bike units.

The Dark Angels are rumored to have a bunch of crazy gak hidden
within their armouries and inventories. One tank they've made was the Land Raider Area. It's like the Land Raider Achilles, but the thunderfire cannon is swapped for a demolisher cannon and seige shield.

The DA are also supposed to be a "tactical genius" Chapter, and Azrael is known for being very tactically inclined, with him even granting a free Command Point on the tabletop if your army is battleforged. Unfortunatley, this is never shown in any of the novels I've read, as Gav Thorpe, the guy who writes DA, is really bad at writing about characters. It's not all so terrible though because Gav is good at talking about characters from "afar" if that makes sense, and can well write/describe the nature and vibe of the DA. He just has lots of problems making a deep character. It's to the point where he makes everyone sound better and more interesting than the protagonist. The only exception to this is his representation of Astelan, which is really interesting and shows how badass a Space Marine/ Dark Angel can be. Even if they're Fallen...

They're secretive and taciturn, and have kept technologies hidden from the Mechanicus like the STCs of the Nephilim Jetfighter. They're also Stoic and efficient, being the ones to complete a mission and depart without any care or want for attention or congratulations. The Dark Angels are also very dedicated and relentless, pushing on and winning wars even when all odds are stacked against them. Though I haven't read many of their books, don't look to Gav Thorpe for any examples of their competence. He's got their taciturn nature on point, but fails to deliver when it comes to the complexity of any strategy.

Overall, take whatever you read from GW or the wiki for face value, but don't read any of their novels expecting them, or their characters, to be as they're described. Except maybe Pandorax. Atleast that doesn't have the "interrogation masters" Interrogator Chaplains shouting like a child at their prisoner for the course of almost a whole book

It's not entirely true that the DeathWing always fight in terminator armour. Recently that has been presented as the truth, however, as with all things 40k this is not black and white.

In previous editions DeathWing could fight in power armour, and it's suggested that they can now with veterans being included in the last few codecies. Indeed, a number of power armoured special characters are DeathWing.

DeathWing is less a unit than a rank of honour. To be inducted into the DeathWing is to be told the great secret of the chapter - Luther and the fall. Other Dark Angels are not aware of this. To be inducted you need to pretty hardcore, although I'm not sure it's ever been explicitly stated what the entry requirements are...

In terms of why the Dark Angels go to war, it's similar to other chapters in that the are aligned to the imperium, but not actually a part of it - they need to be petitioned. They make the decision to join, and will often find something better to do if there are fallen around. The DeathWing exist to hunt fallen and interrogate, find more, and force repentance. The raven wing do not have the full knowledge of the fall, but exist to corral the fallen for the DeathWing to capture.

The rest of the chapter exists to provide more future material for the first 2 companies, and to make it look like the chapter gives a feth about the imperium.

They have loads of plasma too - which many players seem as their only difference to normal chapters. But it's a lot more nuanced than that.

 Russell's teapot wrote:
DeathWing is less a unit than a rank of honour. To be inducted into the DeathWing is to be told the great secret of the chapter - Luther and the fall. Other Dark Angels are not aware of this. To be inducted you need to pretty hardcore, although I'm not sure it's ever been explicitly stated what the entry requirements are...

In 374.M35 Supreme Grand Master Bantarnarius famously inducted the entire Dark Angels chapter into the DeathWing after a vat of Calibanian wine with the words "guys, you are not going to believe this"...

To sum up succinctly?

All Deathwing fight in Terminator armour. All Deathwing are Veterans. But not all Veterans are members of the Deathwing.

It's just another example of how the Dark Angels are Codex divergent.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

All Deathwing fight in Terminator armour.

So Azrael and Ezekiel are not DeathWing?

The Deathwing keyword on those characters are a misnomer; they're purely for the rules to denote that these characters benefit from the highest levels of buffs. This is due to a weird generalization that came from the 7th edition codex where Inner Circle as a rule was replaced with Deathwing (I think it was because Inner Circle was changed to an actual detachment-related rule instead).

Azrael and Ezekiel are part of the Inner Circle, which is different from Deathwing. Deathwing is the designation of the 1st company of the Dark Angels. All of Deathwing is part of the Inner Circle, but not all Inner Circle members are Deathwing. Company Masters, for example, are members of the Inner Circle (and most likely promoted from members of Deathwing) but are no longer part of the Deathwing itself.

Also, as I explained above, due to the nature of the secrecy, Deathwing Veterans are rarely seconded to other companies like Sternguard and Vanguards are. Thus the Veterans you see in non-deathwing/ravenwing Dark Angels armies are instead Company Veterans; extremely skilled and wizen warriors from their own companies that have not been inducted into Ravenwing or Deathwing.

As for the requirements to enter Deathwing, it has been outlined in the codexes. Basically a normal greenwing marine is watched by his company master for faithfulness and a loyalty to the chapter above all else (NOT combat skill, this will be important). When the Company Master deems him worthy, he is brought before the Inner Circle (and most importantly, the Interrogator Chaplains) and judged. If deemed worthy, he is promoted to Ravenwing and is privied to more secrets of the Dark Angels. Judged Unworthy, and he is mindscrubbed; Sometimes they will only loose the portion of their memory of the judgement, but in most cases this leaves them a gibbering wreck, who are then either turned into Chapter Serfs or (if the damage is too far gone) changed into Servitors. To be inducted into Deathwing, the same happens again, this time presumably under the vigil of the Grand Master of Ravenwing. Chaplains only go through one level of elevation; if I remember correctly newly inducted chaplains are taken under the wing of an Interrogator Chaplain and slowly taught the ways of the chapter and of how to extract information. Once their mentor deems them ready, they go through the same process. Succeed and they're promoted to Interrogator Chaplains, ready for their true purpose: to extract confessions from that of the fallen (failure has the same consequences). All of these ranks have one thing in common; the bearer is now part of the Inner Circle of the Dark Angels and are privied to the true knowledge of the Fall of Caliban (the knowledge of Luthor though is reserved solely for Grand Masters).

Note that due to this way of promotions, actual combat skill isn't taken into account. This means that Company Veterans (veterans who have yet to be deemed worthy of judgement yet) may actually have better combat skills than actual deathwing members.

What Role Dose A Iron Hands Iron Father Serve In The Deathwatch?

I seem to remember reading that One of the reasons the Dark Angels have a company of Terminators (Deathwing), and bikes (Ravenwing) goes back to the great crusade. They were the first Legion to start reconquering the galaxy. They built their legion to contain a bunch of different "wings" for different tactical situations. The Dark Angels had like six different wings during the great crusade. Later Legions specialized in styles of warfare and could be brought in to deal with specific war zones. Early on, the Dark Angels were all alone so had to build flexibility into their legion.

 spiralingcadaver wrote:
I thought that all chapters' first companies are supposed to be able to be fully fielded as terminators, it's just most can't or don't? (Essentially, their only non-standard practices are some wargear and their second company?)

DA is exclusively terminators and venerable dreadnoughts. No sternguard or vanguard in first company, they do have veteran squads in other companies instead.

Their later foundings also have a more intense loyalty, so much so that the Grandmaster of the dark angels is considered to control a "legion".