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Just got started with 40k and have played with the dark vengeance set for alittle while and currently working on a list for a Dark Angels army.
Current rough draft for the army is:

HQ: 145 points

Ezekial- 145pts

Elites: 415 points

DeathWing Terminator Squad- 245pts
4x Terminators
1x Terminator Sergeant
1x Assault Cannon
1x Chainfist

Venerable Dreadnought- 170pts
Extra Armor
Twin-linked Lascannons
Missile Launcher

Troops: 345 points

Tactical Squad- 170 pts
1x Sergeant
9x Marines
Plasmagun
Plasma Cannon

Tactical Squad- 175pts
1x Sergeant
9x Marines
Meltagun
Missile Launcher (flakk)

Fast Attack: 95 points

Ravenwing Attack Squadron- 95pts
2x Ravenwing Bikers
1x Sergeant
Plasmagun

Total Points: 1000

Its probably not the best list but its my first list and I'm looking for some good old fashioned constructed criticism to help get a 1000 point army. The goal is a all comers list that can handle multiple kinds of threats. Any advice to improve or edit the list is greatly appreciated!

Looks fairly solid, a DV army with a few extra widgets.

Depending on how comfortable you feel converting, I'd swap the plasma and melta between the second tac squad and the Ravenwing, as the increased mobility on the bikes makes better use of the melta's short range.

As your only vehicle, your Dreadnought will get focused by whatever anti-tank your opponent brings. Mitigated slightly by the long-range guns it's toting, but don't expect it to survive the game.

Welcome to 40k and Dakka!

That's a very similar list to what I started playing with when I got into 40k about a year ago. I added another DW squad (eBay) and a few extra bikes/ attack bike with MM.

Welcome to Dakka!

Tactical squads would like Rhinos to get to the destination in time. At least one of them maybe. Other than that I like the list, but in future you might want to decide which one do you prefer: Deathwing or Ravenwing. Combination doesn't work that well, especially in small point games.

^This. I never bothered with rhinos and my tac squads suffered because of it!

I also ended up going full DW but didn't have much success due to very small number of models on the table. I think a mix is viable and fun, particularly if you weight it more towards RW using DW as support.

A full RW list is very strong indeed, Ive played against a couple of lists and not faired very well at all but I am also not equipped to deal with fast in your face lists.

How flexible are you? if you make 3 tacs squads then dakka banner starts becoming intresting.

 Quanar wrote:
Looks fairly solid, a DV army with a few extra widgets.

Depending on how comfortable you feel converting, I'd swap the plasma and melta between the second tac squad and the Ravenwing, as the increased mobility on the bikes makes better use of the melta's short range.

As your only vehicle, your Dreadnought will get focused by whatever anti-tank your opponent brings. Mitigated slightly by the long-range guns it's toting, but don't expect it to survive the game.

Welcome to 40k and Dakka!

Whoops! I actually forgot to change it, but I toned down the dread and just made it venerable and took the weopons down to only a multi melta and a power fist w/ storm bolter. With the extra points I got the Melta/Missile Launcher squad a rhino with a hunter killer missle.
Still right on the dot of 1000 and I can get those marines closer with the melta gun to really do some damage!

Problem with the Heavy in the Rhino is it can only snapshot.
So if the Rhino moves even 1", it only hits on 6's.
It works, depending what you do with it, but if I have a "camp that objective"-Squad, I give them a Heavy. If I have a "move in your face"-Squad, I give the Sarge a combi melta and a special. Those 2 can fire from the Viewports (at least 1, the combi..) and still make full use of the rhino movement.

HKMs are generally just bad. 10 pts for 1 single shot that whiffs 33% of the time?

michale wrote:
Whoops! I actually forgot to change it, but I toned down the dread and just made it venerable and took the weopons down to only a multi melta and a power fist w/ storm bolter. With the extra points I got the Melta/Missile Launcher squad a rhino with a hunter killer missle.
Still right on the dot of 1000 and I can get those marines closer with the melta gun to really do some damage!

I'd agree with Thairne, a HKM is a very poor one-trick-pony, you could leave the missile launcher on the dread for the same cost. Are you dead-set on the dread being Venerable?

With the Rhino, you can obviously Combat Squad them leaving the heavy at the back. If you end up with spare points (or decide to not take the ML on the dread), giving the melta squad sergeant a combi-melta would be my recomendation.

Bike lists work best IMO because few take all comers can take them, so a librarian with PFG and a bike master with the bike company with dakka banner means loads of 24" dakka and meltas for tanks.

 Quanar wrote:

michale wrote:
Whoops! I actually forgot to change it, but I toned down the dread and just made it venerable and took the weopons down to only a multi melta and a power fist w/ storm bolter. With the extra points I got the Melta/Missile Launcher squad a rhino with a hunter killer missle.
Still right on the dot of 1000 and I can get those marines closer with the melta gun to really do some damage!

I'd agree with Thairne, a HKM is a very poor one-trick-pony, you could leave the missile launcher on the dread for the same cost. Are you dead-set on the dread being Venerable?

With the Rhino, you can obviously Combat Squad them leaving the heavy at the back. If you end up with spare points (or decide to not take the ML on the dread), giving the melta squad sergeant a combi-melta would be my recomendation.

Hmmm.. Yea I could take the venerable off that dread and put back on its missile launcher, will probably be better with the extra fire power. With the extra points from that and by taking off that HKM I will take your advice for the combi melta, I would rather have an extra shot from that to go with the squad to take down a vehicle than that missile.

michale wrote:
Hmmm.. Yea I could take the venerable off that dread and put back on its missile launcher, will probably be better with the extra fire power. With the extra points from that and by taking off that HKM I will take your advice for the combi melta, I would rather have an extra shot from that to go with the squad to take down a vehicle than that missile.

Whilst a HKM and a Combi-Melta seem similar - both cost the same, both are one-use (the combi-part at least). As the squad will be getting close to use the non-combi-melta anyway either scenario would be 2 Str8 shots, but at least with the combi you've a much higher chance of causing damage (the semi-Armourbane and AP1 for the damage table).

 soomemafia wrote:
Welcome to Dakka!

Tactical squads would like Rhinos to get to the destination in time. At least one of them maybe. Other than that I like the list, but in future you might want to decide which one do you prefer: Deathwing or Ravenwing. Combination doesn't work that well, especially in small point games.

This again. I highly recommend Ravenwing for smaller games, as it lets you put more stuff on the table. Also, for your list, what does Ezekial bring that a regular librarian couldn't do for a bit cheaper? He doesnt have terminator armor, so he isn't deep striking with the terminators...and the tac squad seems like he wouldn't see much use there. Yes, +1 weapon skill is kick ass for a tac squad, but it seems like the points could be better utilized elsewhere.

I dropped my venerable dreadnaught for a Predator with the Lascannon upgrades. If you can squeeze it in (depending on your upgrades, the difference should be between 15-25 points) the Lascannon's give you Anti-armour, from range. The question you really need to ask yourself is, will your dreadnaught ever see close combat? I suspect the answer might be no (based on games I have played, however your local scene may be different) in which case that left arm is going to waste. If you do keep the dreadnaught, definitely give it the missile pod.

In my 750 and 1000 point games, the predator has been an absolute menace, taking out big targets, whilst drawing fire away from my tactical and RW attack squads. Allowing them to get up close and cause some real damage. Food for thought, but ultimately you should experiment until you find your niche and build from there. Let us know how you get on

Neomagicwarrior wrote:

 soomemafia wrote:
Welcome to Dakka!

Tactical squads would like Rhinos to get to the destination in time. At least one of them maybe. Other than that I like the list, but in future you might want to decide which one do you prefer: Deathwing or Ravenwing. Combination doesn't work that well, especially in small point games.

This again. I highly recommend Ravenwing for smaller games, as it lets you put more stuff on the table. Also, for your list, what does Ezekial bring that a regular librarian couldn't do for a bit cheaper? He doesnt have terminator armor, so he isn't deep striking with the terminators...and the tac squad seems like he wouldn't see much use there. Yes, +1 weapon skill is kick ass for a tac squad, but it seems like the points could be better utilized elsewhere.

I never thought of using a normal librarian. With the extra points, how would you say I use them?

I've always used my DA Libs with tac squads. Ezekiel is nice because of his mind worm ability... and his 2+... but he's still not worth the points. Regular Lib with divination abilities if you're running greenwing tacs or RavenWing(Throw him on a bike and give him a command squad with this option IMHO)

 Rhomen wrote:
I've always used my DA Libs with tac squads. Ezekiel is nice because of his mind worm ability... and his 2+... but he's still not worth the points. Regular Lib with divination abilities if you're running greenwing tacs or RavenWing(Throw him on a bike and give him a command squad with this option IMHO)

What equipment does he run with?

I'd swap Ezekiel for a level 2 liby and take a rhino. Otherwise it's pretty solid. Also as quanar said (if you can) swap the plas gun and melta on the tac/bike squads

michale wrote:

 Rhomen wrote:
I've always used my DA Libs with tac squads. Ezekiel is nice because of his mind worm ability... and his 2+... but he's still not worth the points. Regular Lib with divination abilities if you're running greenwing tacs or RavenWing(Throw him on a bike and give him a command squad with this option IMHO)

What equipment does he run with?

Just hit him with a Mastery Level 2 and throw him on a bike. his regular force weapon is all he will need.

Low cost HQ that will do well for your troops.

For the point value landspeeders may give you more wiggle room than the bikes

Welcome to Dakka. Anybody will focus your Rhino, which makes the combi melta a much better choice.

 Barun Von Krump wrote:
For the point value landspeeders may give you more wiggle room than the bikes

What was your idea about the landspeeders, how many and what load outs would you give them?

The Space Hulk wrote:

 Barun Von Krump wrote:
For the point value landspeeders may give you more wiggle room than the bikes

What was your idea about the landspeeders, how many and what load outs would you give them?

Not that you asked me, but I like 2-3 Landspeeders w/ Typhoon ML