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So, after spending most of the year doing 15mm historicals, I've decided to go back to painting, and maybe even gaming, some 40k. After the shock at how incredibly gigantic the models are, some questions came to mind.
I'm almost done with the Dark Vengeance models, and I have Sammael to build and paint next. After that I was considering picking up the Ravenwing battleforce, and probably an extra tactical squad. Do any of you kind people have any better suggestions?
I know I'll need some anti-aircraft options, and based on my tiny knowledge of the game I suspect a rifleman dread or two might be the only option here. Are these dreads any good against non-fliers, and also, am I missing any other way of dealing with death from above?

If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it. For what it's worth I don't intend to build a super-competitive tournament list, but to play at all I'll have to go to a club full of fairly serious competitors, so I'd like my army to at least attempt to cover all the bases.

Thanks,
JM.

your best off with Belial some terminators and raven wing bikes

Thanks.

Aegis Defecne Line is excellent at anti-air when you have a quad gun emplacement manned with a unit with a 5+ BS. Pumps out 4 strength 7 twin linked shots and has interceptor and skyfire. Only costs 100 points which isn't bad considering it grants you cover aswell.

Good point, but it feels a bit odd taking a defence line with an army that has a reputation for moving quickly.

Azreal is nice. makes all of your best units troops


Automatically Appended Next Post:
DA work Well and at there best as a mixed wing unit.

 raiden wrote:
Azreal is nice. makes all of your best units troops


Automatically Appended Next Post:
DA work Well and at there best as a mixed wing unit.

If you want a good DA representation, then I would say do mixed wing or pure Ravenwing. Sometimes you might be able to get away with doing the "Black and White" build but it is harder to do without using Azrael (who is probably the best character in the book).

Some units that are really good are:

Black Knights / Ravenwing Command Squad: Hard hitting, good shooting, fast, bikes, and have a cool rending hammer. They also look really cool and can take banners, allowing all the bolter bikes to benefit from the banner of devastation. So your regular RW squads are fast-moving, relentless, twin-linked salvo 4 bolters... it's pretty gross.

Librarians (any variety): Add to any squad to make it super good. A Power Field Generator is also really good to take if you give him a bike squad to ride with, plus, it's a cool and fluffy addition You can also give him terminator armor to hang around with a deathwing squad and give them all sorts of psychic bonuses

Azrael: Really good character. Great in just about any army and makes basic Deathwing and Ravenwing count as troops. Gives the 4+ Invul aura to his whole squad, which can be great. The older model is a bit meh, but you can easily use the Dark Vengeance captain with the winged helmet as Azrael

Deathwing Terminators: Don't go overbaord with em. Usually 1-2 squads is plenty. Give them TH/SS to make them a really hard to kill unit that hits like a truck. They will usually get focus fired, but that can allow your army to survive. Put em in a Land Raider Crusader and go to town. You can also make them shooty and deep strike them for twin-linked, but it is riskier and they are usually going to get killed immediately.

Deathwing Command Squad: Only take one of these (probably with a librarian in terminator armor). Usually, I would use them as a hard to kill platform to put a banner in. Usually the Dev banner or Fortitude Banner to give your army either FNP or super -powered blotters. Give as many of them TH/SS as you can to help them survive, and drop them in the middle of your army to give the banner bonuses to as many guys as possible. If you are taking the devastation banner, add an apothecary to give them Feel No Pain. They WILL get focus fired by everything the enemy has, and likely won't live past turn 2 or 3, but as long as that banner is alive your army's shooting effectively quadruples at 24" (as long as they don't move, for bolters at least). It's a gimmick, but it can work. Regardless, this squad looks really cool!

Sadly, that's really all that DA has going for it in a competitive sphere that is exclusive to them. Regular tacticals are always good but a lot of other armies can get better skills with them, (actually all of them). However, taking the Banner of Devastation can turn DA tacticals into an absolute shooting monstrosity. The problem is that the banner can get focus fired pretty quickly :/

Either way, Dark Angels have some of the best looking models (in my opinion) so use that to have some fun with them.

- VardenV2

Black knights do NOT benefit from standard of devastation

 namiel wrote:
Black knights do NOT benefit from standard of devastation

Oh, you are correct I derped there and thought I was talking about regular bikes. Good catch! Edited that out

You can also go 3 land raider crusaders with a banner of devastation inside one of them. A bike librarian with a power field generator hiding behind them to grant them a 4++ invul save. Use the hurricane bolters to shoot 24 shots a Land Raider Crusader each. Make sure you buy the multi melta upgrade.

 Julnlecs wrote:
You can also go 3 land raider crusaders with a banner of devastation inside one of them. A bike librarian with a power field generator hiding behind them to grant them a 4++ invul save. Use the hurricane bolters to shoot 24 shots a Land Raider Crusader each. Make sure you buy the multi melta upgrade.

That's been FAQed. Has to be outside the lr

That is why he specified he be on a bike and behind the raiders. The PFG cannot project from inside a raider but a dakka banner CAN.

 namiel wrote:

 Julnlecs wrote:
You can also go 3 land raider crusaders with a banner of devastation inside one of them. A bike librarian with a power field generator hiding behind them to grant them a 4++ invul save. Use the hurricane bolters to shoot 24 shots a Land Raider Crusader each. Make sure you buy the multi melta upgrade.

That's been FAQed. Has to be outside the lr

Again.. the FAQ makes the PFG be outside. The dakka banner radiates from the hull.

Thanks for all the suggestions, some great ideas here.

Yeah Dakka is awesome, I don't play DA, and I learned a lot about them just reading this.