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Hey guys, I've been away from the game for almost a year I would say due to obligations complications yada yada. I sold my orks and my BA list when I got out of the game =[
I'm going to try and come back in a few months when things lighten up a bit and I wanted to know with the release of the new Dark angels stuff, is ravenwing popular? Is it something someone relatively new to the game could play? Is there a better list out there for them? I can't remember then name of the all termie list but is that better than ravenwing? I've been watching battle reports I did a few searches on here and I'm just a little lost but I know after reading the new DA book I would love to hear some good news on them =) cheers! Thanks for anything you guys have =D

raven wing is a very powerful build for the dark angles, I would say its better than pure deathwing. The book has very good synergy tho, deathwing and ravenwing work very well together. skip the flyer tho, way to expensive in my book. Personally I like deathwing more but thats just because I have a man crush on terminators.

 theman99808 wrote:
raven wing is a very powerful build for the dark angles, I would say its better than pure deathwing. The book has very good synergy tho, deathwing and ravenwing work very well together. skip the flyer tho, way to expensive in my book. Personally I like deathwing more but thats just because I have a man crush on terminators.

Do you feel like a 2k points pure ravenwing is the way to go? How is sammael? I looove that model lol but I've had such a hard time finding a place for named characters in the past without building the entire army around them (granted this is the ravenwing and the list IS kinda his thing) but I did the blood rodeo from the blood angels and I loved painting the bikes XD. I never got to play the list though ='[
I like the idea of pure bikes and speeders but do you think devastators and ternmies could work with a ravenwing? I'm just kinda trying to find out what I need to look into buying. I know this can get expensive without some kind of clear plan XD

Ravenwing is a popular list and fairly competitive, it's a highly mobile, hard-hitting force but has a very low model count which can make it a little challenging to play. Fear not, with a little practice and patience you'll learn how to maximize their potential. The all Terminator list you are referring to is Deathwing, which is also a very low model count army that isn't very mobile (but made up for to a degree with the Deathwing Assault/Deep Strike rules) but is tough as nails. Both armies are pretty popular for beginners because the low model count means less of an investment in the hobby, in particular because you can score Ravenwing Bikes and Deathwing Terminators from the Dark Vengeance boxed set for very cheap online. From there you add in a Special Character and a few support units and you are set to play.

As for the units to invest in, aside from standard Ravenwing Bikes and Deathwing Terminators?

Ravenwing:
Sammael on Corvex (Corvex is his Jetbike, it's far superior to his Land Speeder)
Ravenwing Knights (arguably the best unit in the codex)
Ravenwing Darkshroud (take one to boost the survivability of nearby Ravenwing bikes)
Ravenwing Command Squad (Apothecary for FNP, Banner Bearer for a force multiplier, avoid the Champion)
Librarian (on a bike, has access to four BRB power sets)

Deathwing:
Deathwing Knights (an amazing close combat squad that every opponent will fear)
Deathwing Command Squad (Apothecary, Banner Bearer and the Champion is simply amazing)
Librarian (in Terminator armor)

Units to avoid:
Nephilim "Jetfighter" (too expensive for something so poorly armed)
Ravenwing Darktalon (pathetically short ranged and underpowered weapons coupled with one, "one use only" bomb makes this a unit to avoid)
Land Speeder Vengeance (costs more than a Vindicator for a much weaker weapon on a much flimsier frame that has the potential to glance itself to death)

I hope some of this helped!

 Brock79 wrote:
Ravenwing is a popular list and fairly competitive, it's a highly mobile, hard-hitting force but has a very low model count which can make it a little challenging to play. Fear not, with a little practice and patience you'll learn how to maximize their potential. The all Terminator list you are referring to is Deathwing, which is also a very low model count army that isn't very mobile (but made up for to a degree with the Deathwing Assault/Deep Strike rules) but is tough as nails. Both armies are pretty popular for beginners because the low model count means less of an investment in the hobby, in particular because you can score Ravenwing Bikes and Deathwing Terminators from the Dark Vengeance boxed set for very cheap online. From there you add in a Special Character and a few support units and you are set to play.

As for the units to invest in, aside from standard Ravenwing Bikes and Deathwing Terminators?

Ravenwing:
Sammael on Corvex (Corvex is his Jetbike, it's far superior to his Land Speeder)
Ravenwing Knights (arguably the best unit in the codex)
Ravenwing Darkshroud (take one to boost the survivability of nearby Ravenwing bikes)
Ravenwing Command Squad (Apothecary for FNP, Banner Bearer for a force multiplier, avoid the Champion)
Librarian (on a bike, has access to four BRB power sets)

Deathwing:
Deathwing Knights (an amazing close combat squad that every opponent will fear)
Deathwing Command Squad (Apothecary, Banner Bearer and the Champion is simply amazing)
Librarian (in Terminator armor)

Units to avoid:
Nephilim "Jetfighter" (too expensive for something so poorly armed)
Ravenwing Darktalon (pathetically short ranged and underpowered weapons coupled with one, "one use only" bomb makes this a unit to avoid)
Land Speeder Vengeance (costs more than a Vindicator for a much weaker weapon on a much flimsier frame that has the potential to glance itself to death)

I hope some of this helped!

Do you feel like I would be better off going to another space marine army? After my initial orkyness I can't handle another buying of 50 zillion models and never feeling like any of them served a purpose. I kind of want to make a C:SM army but after reading all of the dark angels novels (working on the newest) and the lion curze fight I just need some DA in my life. But I don't want to feel like I'm spending 50 million hours painting and making specific models to be a librarian on bike and other things. I really want the sammael model lol is he always in a ravenwing list? Can the DA utilize normal space marine weaponry or are they kind of...if you're playing this list you have to play this way kind of army?

 Gharron wrote:

Do you feel like I would be better off going to another space marine army? After my initial orkyness I can't handle another buying of 50 zillion models and never feeling like any of them served a purpose. I kind of want to make a C:SM army but after reading all of the dark angels novels (working on the newest) and the lion curze fight I just need some DA in my life. But I don't want to feel like I'm spending 50 million hours painting and making specific models to be a librarian on bike and other things. I really want the sammael model lol is he always in a ravenwing list? Can the DA utilize normal space marine weaponry or are they kind of...if you're playing this list you have to play this way kind of army?

In order to play a Ravenwing list, you have to take Sammael because he makes Ravenwing Bike Squads a Troop choice instead of their normal Fast Attack slot. Just like a Deathwing list requires you to take Belial because he makes Deathwing Terminator Squads a Troop choice instead of their normal Elite slot. However, taking either of those special characters doesn't prevent you from taking any other unit in the codex. Dark Angels still have a lot of the same exact squads/vehicles that C:SM get (Tactical Squads, Scout Squads, Predators, etc.) The DA codex is very flexible and allows for a lot of different options and configurations for your army that have synergy with each other. For example, Ravenwing Bikes have Teleport Homers that reduce the scatter of Deep Striking units which means you could take a unit of Terminators or a squad in a Drop Pod to bring them in close to your bikes to provide support. Again, taking Sammael or Belial (or even Azreal) doesn't mean you have to play a strict Ravenwing or Deathwing only army.

Hope I made that clear enough.

 Gharron wrote:
Do you feel like I would be better off going to another space marine army? After my initial orkyness I can't handle another buying of 50 zillion models and never feeling like any of them served a purpose. I kind of want to make a C:SM army but after reading all of the dark angels novels (working on the newest) and the lion curze fight I just need some DA in my life. But I don't want to feel like I'm spending 50 million hours painting and making specific models to be a librarian on bike and other things. I really want the sammael model lol is he always in a ravenwing list? Can the DA utilize normal space marine weaponry or are they kind of...if you're playing this list you have to play this way kind of army?

If you run DA with RW, DW, or a hybrid of the two (I run a mainly RW list with deep striking DW that land on the bikes without scatter for support, it's fun), you will have a low model count. Pure RW is very popular, and pure DW not so much as they are less competitive(but can still work if that's what you want). That being the case, you wont have that much to paint, certainly nowhere near as much as with orks. Getting a DV set will is a good starting point for this, and hopefully you can find a chaos player to trade the chaos half for more DA! Plus the rule book if you don't have one yet (you mentioned being out of the game for a while), and other goodies like dice, templates, ect.

If you are looking for a meq list with lower model counts, and like the idea of bikes and/or terminators as troops, DA are a good choice.

 pwntallica wrote:

 Gharron wrote:
Do you feel like I would be better off going to another space marine army? After my initial orkyness I can't handle another buying of 50 zillion models and never feeling like any of them served a purpose. I kind of want to make a C:SM army but after reading all of the dark angels novels (working on the newest) and the lion curze fight I just need some DA in my life. But I don't want to feel like I'm spending 50 million hours painting and making specific models to be a librarian on bike and other things. I really want the sammael model lol is he always in a ravenwing list? Can the DA utilize normal space marine weaponry or are they kind of...if you're playing this list you have to play this way kind of army?

If you run DA with RW, DW, or a hybrid of the two (I run a mainly RW list with deep striking DW that land on the bikes without scatter for support, it's fun), you will have a low model count. Pure RW is very popular, and pure DW not so much as they are less competitive(but can still work if that's what you want). That being the case, you wont have that much to paint, certainly nowhere near as much as with orks. Getting a DV set will is a good starting point for this, and hopefully you can find a chaos player to trade the chaos half for more DA! Plus the rule book if you don't have one yet (you mentioned being out of the game for a while), and other goodies like dice, templates, ect.

If you are looking for a meq list with lower model counts, and like the idea of bikes and/or terminators as troops, DA are a good choice.

That's kind of why I thought of going to a MEQ army. My orks just weren't fun after the thirty minute setup and the 180 boys or so list I was running and only getting to turn 3, I just wasn't having fun and real life was getting hectic so it was time I bowed out. I just kinda feel like I could have fun with a bike list I love the DA fluff and I've always been a big termie fan. I just want some devastators XD I like to shoot a lot but I just wouldn't know what to do with only 30 models on the ground XD

Is it somewhat similar to the grey knights model count?

 Gharron wrote:
That's kind of why I thought of going to a MEQ army. My orks just weren't fun after the thirty minute setup and the 180 boys or so list I was running and only getting to turn 3, I just wasn't having fun and real life was getting hectic so it was time I bowed out. I just kinda feel like I could have fun with a bike list I love the DA fluff and I've always been a big termie fan. I just want some devastators XD I like to shoot a lot but I just wouldn't know what to do with only 30 models on the ground XD

Is it somewhat similar to the grey knights model count?

I'm not super familiar with the GK codex. I know they can get really low model counts. In comparison as to how low (while still being effective) the model counts can get pretty low. You'll get less on the table with a DW list than a RW list. If you are looking for an idea for RW, there was an army list post I was reading the other day, I'll link it;

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/516312.page

The OP is looking for feedback on a 2k points RW list. He tweaks it a few times, and it sits around 50 or less models. At 2k points, that's pretty low.

This is a good post to go through because there is a few changes made to the list, and you can go through it and get an idea of what people think of certain units, and the strengths vs weakness of the list. Take it with a grain of salt, I don't agree with every point being made, but that's just my play style (for example, I usually prefer land speeders over attack bikes). That isn't to say their wrong, just that they are not necessarily right for every person in every case. It is however a post I believe you will get something out of. There is a lot of good information in there.

Hope this helps

Ravenwing is strong, in fact incredibly strong if you know what you're doing. Do you like firing 80+ bolter shots at anything you want in the enemy's deployment zone? Do you like reducing the toughness of Chaos Lords and insta-deathing them with plasma guns? Do you like being able to shoot, assault, assault again, and then fall back from combat in your turn to shoot and charge again? If the answer to these questions is yes, Ravenwing is for you.

They might be a little too strong for casual play, because they're probably the most competitive SM build at the moment.

Check out my batrep to get a feel for the new DA codex where my RW list smashes 5 Flying Monstrous Creatures and a Helldrake.

Asmodai Asmodean wrote:
Ravenwing is strong, in fact incredibly strong if you know what you're doing. Do you like firing 80+ bolter shots at anything you want in the enemy's deployment zone? Do you like reducing the toughness of Chaos Lords and insta-deathing them with plasma guns? Do you like being able to shoot, assault, assault again, and then fall back from combat in your turn to shoot and charge again? If the answer to these questions is yes, Ravenwing is for you.

They might be a little too strong for casual play, because they're probably the most competitive SM build at the moment.

Check out my batrep to get a feel for the new DA codex where my RW list smashes 5 Flying Monstrous Creatures and a Helldrake.

Whenever I start picking things up where would you suggest I start? I love the sammael model but man, I'm kind of at a loss with 6th and what's the "meta"

Sammael
Command Squad with Banner
4x Ravenwing Bikers with Meltaguns
2x Attackbikes with MM

Expansion:
Lvl 2 Librarian rolling Invisibility
2nd Command Squad
Darkshroud