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.

 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!

 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?

 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?

 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.

 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?

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.