New Dark Angels

[Auxryn]

As some of you may have noticed, GW just published a new codex for the Dark Angels.

Anybody else read it? Any thoughts?

I think most people are interested in their terminators and bikes, but I find myself interested in Tac Squads and some of the other basic options as well. They get Whirlwinds at a discount, and their Devastators get cheap plasma cannons and lascannons. I like that veteran sergeants are an optional upgrade as well.

[job]

Yeah, I'm going to be doing a Death Wing army with a variant chapter.

I like the rules. The 'dex is overall well done. I think the balance is good and like the CSM book nothing makes you think anything is broken or ridiculous. I thought the fact there are fewer references to specific special rules is good. (Compared to the CSM book where there are various combinations of special rules from Marks to cult troopers to new codex specific rule. complicated, ugh) There are some nice abilities like the oft cited banner that will double your bolter fire. But, everything seems to have its limitations.

The organization is pretty typical, but the addition of knights is interesting. The new flyers are very cool looking to me, but the price tag will be the big hurdle. The character rules look fun and not over-powered on first glance. (I'll be deploying a Balial doppelganger.)

The only sad thing is the pathetic new landspeeder model. It is hideous! [barf]

Should be fun to play!

[Primarch]

The problem with the new landspeeder is not that it is hideous, the problem is that it is 140 points for a landspeeder. AV10 all round with 2 hull points means that it can (potentially) be killed by 1 guy with a bolter.

That aside, the book is pretty good overall. The new DW/RW units are all pretty good, though at 3 models, the RW command squad is a bit weedy. I can't see any reason at all to take company masters. Either take a special character or a chaplain or one of the stupidly cheap librarians. They offer more bang for their buck than the poor old captain. The special characters are all pretty cool and to be honest you probably want Belial (DW as troops), Sammael (RW as troops) or Azrael (Both as troops) because there is so much competition in the Elite and Fast Attack sections. In Elite you have DW Terminators, DW Knights, Dreadnoughts and Company Veterans, all of which are good choices. In Fast Attack you have both the new flyers, the regular bike squads, land speeders, dark shrouds and the humble assault marines as well. Being able to shift stuff over to the troops section will allow you to play with all the new toys.
The DA troops aka Greenwing aren't bad. The points drop on tacticals makes them a viable troops choice. They still aren't Grey Hunters, but they have some nice options. Flak Missiles is a nice upgrade, as is the option to take a cheap sarge rather than a veteran. The Standard of Dakka means that your basic boltgun becomes assault 2/heavy 4 at 24" which is very nice. Scouts are sadly still just scouts.
The heavy support section is looking nice as well. Discount devastators, whirlwinds and predators are all good. The vindicator got a shade more expensive, but with the changes in 6th, it is still good value, especially if you give it a second stormbolter to help negate the risk of losing your main gun to a lucky hit. Venerable Land Raiders are also a nice option.

Overall, the book is very good, with lots of decent choices in every slot, which in my view is the hallmark of a well written codex. It remains to be seen how good some of the builds are in practice, but I am looking forward to trying them out.

[Auxryn]

Keep in mind the Darkshroud is stealthed and shrouded with Jink, so it gets a 2+ cover save all the time. That makes AV10 HP2 a little better. Still not likely that I'd want one.

There are also a whole lot of fancy wargear options available as well. About 3 kinds of force fields and a bunch of other things I don't really remember.

[Primarch]

The Darkshroud is great, it's the Land Speeder Vengeance with the triple plasma cannon that sucks. The Shroud is a very nice support unit and buffs the units nearby. The Darkshroud doesn't have stealth, thats a typo. It does provide stealth to nearby units though.

[Auxryn]

Oh, that reminds me. I really like that Deathwing has the option of all coming down together on either turn 1 or turn 2. It means that you aren't at the mercy of reserve rolls. In particular, I think it would be interesting to combine drop pods with a Turn 1 Deathwing Assault. You could drop everything at once.

[Primarch]

Oh, that reminds me. I really like that Deathwing has the option of all coming down together on either turn 1 or turn 2. It means that you aren't at the mercy of reserve rolls. In particular, I think it would be interesting to combine drop pods with a Turn 1 Deathwing Assault. You could drop everything at once.

You still need to have half your army on the table though. And with drop pods, you can only drop half of them on turn 1.

[job]

Oh, that reminds me. I really like that Deathwing has the option of all coming down together on either turn 1 or turn 2. It means that you aren't at the mercy of reserve rolls. In particular, I think it would be interesting to combine drop pods with a Turn 1 Deathwing Assault. You could drop everything at once.

Agreed on that! Very neat rule.

I've never been a fan of deep striking. The reserve rules, the scattering-mishaps, and the lack of the ability to assault, I've always thought there were more drawback then advantages. The new rules have led me to reconsider the idea. Balial's rule also helps a lot with the idea.

[Admiral-Badruck]

What happened with the DW are they any different than before ?

[Primarch]

What happened with the DW are they any different than before ?

Yeah, a bit.
They choose when they deepstrike rather than 1/2 on turn 1 and the rest in reserve.
Their guns are twin linked on the turn they deepstrike.
They can split fire like Long Fangs
They can take Plasma Cannons
They have preferred enemy Chaos Marines
They have to pay to take TH/SS (though lightning claws are a free option still).

Those are the main points anyway.