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Hey All,

This is my first time putting together a Dark Angels 30k list. I'm a longtime 40k Dark Angel player and am now dipping into the more historical side. Let me know what you think and any changes/additions/subtractions you might make. I'm also open to suggestions on must-have units for a DA army

List is just shy of 2k

Ironwing Protocol:

Praetor - Artificer, Iron Halo, Master Crafted Paragon Blade (not sure if I should go with a Terranic Greatsword)
Bodyguard - 4x with Calibanite Blades, 1x Powerfist

Master of Signals - Artificer, Terranic Greatsword

10x Tactical Squad - B/BP/CC, Rhino, Sarge(Calibanite Warblade, Artificer)
10x Tactical Squad - B/BP/CC, Rhino, Sarge(Calibanite Warblade, Artificer)
5x Support Squad - Plasmaguns, Rhino

Apothecarion Detachment - 2x Apothecaries

Contemptor Mortis Dread - 2x Kheres Assault Cannons, Havoc Launchers
Mortis Dreadnought - 2x Lascannons

Land Raider Phobos - Armored Ceramite
2x Vindicators

Overall plan - Praetor and Bodyguard go in the Raider. MoS goes with the Plasmagunners, Apoth in the Raider and Plasmagunners

Praetor- give him Digital Weapons for an extra attack, and it is fun to have one with an Aerotech Pistol (Master Crafted of course).

Your Legion Tactical Squads are too small/not enough of them. Giving them a Rolling Death Box (Rhino) will get popped, and you'll have to make a pinning test. If you fail, then the squad is basically done for the game. Get a Legion Vexilla for them.

As a side note, Rhino's can be armed with a Heavy Bolter, Heavy Flamer, Multi-Melta, or Havoc Launcher. I'd suggest Multi-melta's for your army as you are lite on Anti-armor weapons.

Legion Support Squad- Not a big fan of Plasmaguns, especially in a five man squad. It's just too darn easy to remove a Rhino and/or five models in 30K.

Comtemptor Mortis Dread- pricey, but very worth it.

Mortis Dreadnought- Garbage. Don't even bother. As one of the few sources of long range low AP guns, he will be the first target and will probably be lost on turn 1.

Land Raider Phobos- good call with the armored ceramite. Too bad it's not a Proteus- you could take a third TL Lascannon for it.

2x Vindicators- not too sure on this one. Well, I know you don't want them in a Squad. Squad'ed vehicles are just bad. I'd probably upgrade both of them to Laser Destroyers and keep them in the back field. Unless you have a RoW that gives you some bonus for two Vindicators in a squad, I'd suggest a Sicaran tank.

Must Haves for any 30K army:
Sicaran Battle Tank or Sicaran Venator Tank. Best tank in the game (well, until that Custodies Grav POS showed up...Grrrr)
Spartan Land Raider, especially if you want to run a "Death Star" unit
Apothecaries in every Squad
Praetor with Paragon Blade and whatever else
Some kind of special squad- Veteran Squad, Command Squad, Destroyer Squad, or possibly what ever your Legion has. Kinda sucks that Dark Angels have "get by" rules until Book VIII.
Quad Rapier Mortar. So good for it's points. You can not not take it. Take three and you will lose all your 30K friends.

So! Here's what every 30K army has to be able to do: Kill a AV 14 HP 5 Flare Shields vehicle in one turn of shooting, and be able to kill or tar pit, or nullify a Primarch that will kill everything he gets into Close Combat with except another Primarch or squad specifically tailored to be anti-Primarch. If your army can't do that, then you should retool your army so that it can. In this case, the only threat your army poses to my Land Raider Spartan with my Primarch and "Death Squad" is you Land Raider Phobos, and your Mortis Dreadnought, both of which will be my priority to kill first. Dreadnought first, as he'll be way easy to pop first. After that, your Vindicators will be in range, so I'll kill them by Turn 3. Then my Spartan will open up and kill the rest of your army. :/ The Plasma Support Squad will never get a chance to shoot my Death Squad, because the turn they come out, they will assault. With only 3 MSU's units in Rolling Death Boxes available for scoring, you could have a hard time in a lot of scenarios. Unlike 40K, Dedicated Transports ARE NOT scoring units, even if taken for a scoring unit.

Now my advice is heavily influenced by my meta where everyone takes a Primarch. There is just no reason not to unless you play Ultramarines, Iron Hands, or Word Bearers. Then you still might, but the army won't be the same as the armies that do take a Primarch. We play minimum 2,000 points, but usually 2,500 or 3,000 (2,500 is the standard). Good luck, and welcome to 30K!

 Tamwulf wrote:


Your Legion Tactical Squads are too small/not enough of them. Giving them a Rolling Death Box (Rhino) will get popped, and you'll have to make a pinning test. If you fail, then the squad is basically done for the game. Get a Legion Vexilla for them.

His Tac Squads in Iron Wing need to be in Rhinos or he needs to put them in Land Raiders. Or he should just take more Tac Squads in HB Rhinos after losing the Mortis Dread.

 VictorVonTzeentch wrote:

 Tamwulf wrote:


Your Legion Tactical Squads are too small/not enough of them. Giving them a Rolling Death Box (Rhino) will get popped, and you'll have to make a pinning test. If you fail, then the squad is basically done for the game. Get a Legion Vexilla for them.

His Tac Squads in Iron Wing need to be in Rhinos or he needs to put them in Land Raiders. Or he should just take more Tac Squads in HB Rhinos after losing the Mortis Dread.

We have a local Alpha Legion player with six Rhino's and Multimelta's- it's just MEAN. LOL I skipped right over the Iron Wing part, in which case... yeah, get rid of the Mortis and try for at least two more Legion Tactical Squads with Rhinos, preferably with some kind of heavy weapon on the Rhinos (at the very least, Heavy Bolters for extra shots).

Thanks for the help guys!

I appreciate the assistance. For now I'm going off what i have in my possession and am currently repainting/transferring over. I do have enough rhinos and tacticals to probably do 4 or 5 tac squads if need be. The Dread was in there due to the bonus of Tank Hunters for the Rite of War.

The Land Raider I set as a Phobos just so my Praetor and Bodyguard could assault out of it. I can set it as a Proteus however if that seems like a better choice.

Other options I currently have at my disposal:

Bunch of Librarians
Could make a Moritat

Meltagun Support Squad
Flame Support Squad

3 total Vindicators

I have a Sicaran Battle tank

5 Heavy Bolters (I like the Molecular Acid)

8 Plasma Cannons
8 Lascannons
8 Missile Launchers

2x Multi-melta Dreads

Landspeeder

I do also have a boatload of standard Deathwing Terminators I can begin transferring over as well.

I can look into Magnetizing meltas or HB's to the rhinos if possible as well.

I can also work some of my marines in as Seekers or Veterans if that would be a better path to run down. Ironwing seemed interesting with the Exterminators rule for bolters and Tank Hunters on the dreads. If there's other RoW's that would be better or fit better flavor let me know

For what you have Iron Wing will probably get you the most bang for your buck. Particularly since the Dark Angels are pretty lacking if you dont run Iron or Raven Wing. But that is fine since both of those are really nice.

Dreads are fine, but if you're gonna use them use the Contemptors and save Boxnaughts for when you need to fill in points.

If you want to assault keep it as the Phobos, but adding a Proteus or two (and Breachers, who take them as Dedicated Transports) in the future could bring some extra punch to the list.

The other options at your disposal could certainly all find a home in Ironwing, they will just need transports. The Squadron of Vindicators will be nice, with BS5 on their weapons from Interlocking Fire. Terminators are nice, but again, Transports will be needed.

Oh, Seekers for sure, with their ability to bring AP2 to the field (albeit it makes their Bolters Heavy when you use it) and more Land Raiders.