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Hi Guys, Im currently looking at starting a Dark Angel army, probably focussed on bikes because Black knights look awesome When I look at the rules I get the feeling that most matches played by ravenwing will be won because they survive (3+ or 2+ jink), but not by actually destroying the enemy. Am I correct in assuming this? Because I want to destroy instead of just survive

I dont neccessarily want an army that destroys everything in turn 2, but I need to be able to keep up with my friends. they usually play nids(2x malanthrope, 30 hormagants, the rest monsters) and marines(lascannon/heavy weapon spam)

Is this possible to play Ravenwing offensively instead of just jinking your way through the game?

thanks for your feedback guys, im just a casual so I dont have too much insight in these things.

I play Necrons myself, but Ive lost to offensive knights before(he didnt even BRING a Dark Shroud) but you will need to assualt early on, and/or get 1st turn so you dont get shot up before losing your offensive power. This was a bikes only list FYI.

Ravenwing Black Knights\Command Squads do very well in close combat against light and medium infantry. Throw in Interrogator chaplains and tech marines on bike, they should be able to beat most units except for hard hitting stuff like typically imperial knights, thunderhammer units etc.

Sammael is kinda in a weird spot, he has excellent rules, but the command squads already have the same except his warlord trait. He is more geared towards making close combat deathstars with allies.

So a solid close combat unit for pure DA would be something like:

6 Ravenwing Command squad with apothocary for feel no pain with the hit and run banner.
Interrogator chaplain with mace of absolution or a powerfist.
Tech Marine on bike with lightning claw (his servo arm is str8 ap1 specialist, so adding the claw that is also specialist will give him 4 attacks on the charge and you can choose what weapon to use. Tech Marine will give you a 2+ save for close combat and protect vs ap3 flamers.

The Black knights have +1 and rending so they are also solid in combat.

Combo this with a support squadron and you should have a solid base for a Ravenwing army.

Ravenwing Black Knights have amazing offensive power with their Plasma Talons, +1 Strength Rending close combat weapons, and high number of attacks. As stated above adding an Interrogator Chaplain to the unit makes it that much better on the charge, though he is best placed into either a large Black Knight unit or a Command Squad.

With the addition of Interromancy there is a chance of getting the "Rage" psychic power which turns the already hard hitting unit into combat monsters.

Sammael I like to add to the unit because of that sweet, sweet +3" to charge range, which massively compensates for the lack of fleet, even if he isn't the hardest hitting Special Character at only STR 4.

With the Ravenwing Attack Squadron formation you can have an entire army of Black Knights. Which is exactly what I have been using of late. Lots of fun and super hard hitting.

I'd add lib on bike instead of tech marine. 4 attacks (rage) on a charge or the ability to have twin linked rending hits is much awesome.

I love Sammael for his AP2 sword and being essentially a flying Plasma cannon.

Beware of Sableclaw though. On paper it looks good but in practice it's a glorified Land Raider. While it has the speed and durability to harass, most people can afford to ignore it (a single Assault Cannon and Heavy Bolter for 200 points doesn't kill all that much)

You can also add Sammael to a Iron Hands Command squad with Power Fists to give them a rerollable Jink Cover Save, Scout, Hit and Run, Skilled Rider, and the +3" Charge Range. Very fun.

In my games I usually find that the Black Knights are the most killtastic thing ever
amazing shooting and absolute monsters in assault, plus their durability and mobility

Thanks for all your respones guys! do you field 3 man groups of black knights or 5+ man groups? also, how do you deal with hordes of hormagaunts for instance? flamers?

It's a low points cost list but I've had a fair amount of success with this list:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/678260.page

Put the Lib with the Command Squad and have the three 3 man units either hunting (if there are valid targets) or going for the objectives.

Plus 4 HB and 3 TML put the hurt on almost anything.

StiXFletcher wrote:
It's a low points cost list but I've had a fair amount of success with this list:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/678260.page

Put the Lib with the Command Squad and have the three 3 man units either hunting (if there are valid targets) or going for the objectives.

Plus 4 HB and 3 TML put the hurt on almost anything.

This is quite like the list I had planned for 1000 points, so thanks for the tips!

Do you have a lot of problems with deciding when to jink and when not to?

Well games are won with points so it's usually a good idea if you're trying to hold objectives with the 3 man squads and jink like hell.
Even though the 3+ rerollable jink is better than the armour save I rarely jink unless it's AP3 or better especially if there is a decent target for the special weapons.
I also try to jink as little as possible with the Librarian so that I have a chance to hit with witchfires.

I was considering using the ravenwing detachment myself for a bit. I was enamored with the possibility of dropping so many single units of land speeders with multi meltas turn two.
A simple core greenwing (Or IG) CAD should give you enough turn 1 presence to survive until your absurd number of MSUs with two heavy weapons each, deep strike, relentless, rerollable jink, and unparalleled movement arrive.
10 dual melta speeders 750pts
2 dual flamer speeders 110pts
(Balance might vary by your meta)"
Tech-marine with Ravenwing Command Squad 250 pts

1110 pts

Milkshaker wrote:
Hi Guys, Im currently looking at starting a Dark Angel army, probably focussed on bikes because Black knights look awesome When I look at the rules I get the feeling that most matches played by ravenwing will be won because they survive (3+ or 2+ jink), but not by actually destroying the enemy. Am I correct in assuming this? Because I want to destroy instead of just survive

I dont neccessarily want an army that destroys everything in turn 2, but I need to be able to keep up with my friends. they usually play nids(2x malanthrope, 30 hormagants, the rest monsters) and marines(lascannon/heavy weapon spam)

Is this possible to play Ravenwing offensively instead of just jinking your way through the game?

thanks for your feedback guys, im just a casual so I dont have too much insight in these things.

Ravenwing are ridiculously hard to kill when you build them correctly. So yeah. Surviving and going second (despite their scout moves) isn't a terribad idea.