DA + IG 2000 points

I've been toying for a long time with the idea of a Ravenwing army, and actually using it as motivation to paint the 30+ bikers I'd need for it. Right now I'm only down to 7~8 but hopefully I will speed things up this summer. The first thing that comes to mind is that is beautiful, themed army. The second is that it is quite limited from a gaming standpoint, and this is why I'm striving to fix.

Having never played biker armies, my impression is that the tactics are rather one-dimensional (move up and shoot?), with the occasional outflanking depending on the mission and opponent. I also find the backfield scoring a cause for concern, and leaving a combat squadded tactical unit behind doesn't do much for the army does it? it will not shoot much, if anything at all, and if someone gets close they will die rather quick. And last but not least, flyers. Highly mobile twin-linked plasma talons can be a lever, as it is stealing the opponents quad-gun, but I'd feel more confortable with something more reliable. All in all I think a good way to erase this concerns is looking for allies, and unsurprisingly, IG can help in all 3 points. Let's get to it.

A 30-40 man blob is affordable enough and can dish out some S7 love, perfect to crack light transports for the bikers to shoot down its contents. Hiding behind the Aegis are resistant enough with the 2+ save from GTG and then ordered Back to fight!, and armed with some flamers and a power axe or two are a bit more resilient to assaults than a tacticals. Not by much, but enough. This of course doesn't make a blob but is richer tactically - I can have 1 or 4 scoring units, embark a PCS with 4 flamers in a Vendetta for a turn 5 objective clean up and hopefully attract some bullets from the bikers. The ubiquotous Vendetta is a must, and a Manticore is effective as always.

Not in unless you bring a bike!

On the Ravenwing side, obviously we need to make the bikers scoring and I'm leaning towards Sammael for a few reasons. The first and obvious is that he unlocks the RW command squad, without requiring a biker Libby to do that. The second is to tank some wounds in the command squad, and the third is that it has a very long movement range so I can use him to deny objectives in the late game. OK there is another reason, and is that I absolutely love his model - the jetbike is beautiful and tremendously characterful for this army. Azrael has his merits and could very well be leading a blob of death; my impression is that Azrael can potentially make this army stronger but I'd like to keep the Ravenwing theme stronger. Play testing will determine the winner, as soon as I finish all those bikers.

The aforementioned command squad is the lynchpin of the army, carrying the standard of devastation that gives 4 twin-linked bolter shots to every biker. Combined with the grenade launcher it will make mince meat to most foot units. Given I'm already spending a ton of points in this unit, I will pay the apothecary for the FNP. This unit should be having a 2+ or 3+ cover save most of the time, followed by a 5+ FNP. It's only 5 wounds (8 with Sammael) but hard to bring down, and meanwhile lets the scoring bikers live a little longer. If they survive past T3 when the bolter fiesta should be over, they can use their superior maneuvrability and plasma talons to support other units as needed. 8 TL plasma shots can reliably take down most things in this game.

Speaking of the Ravenwing, the core of the army would be 4 units of 6 bikers with meltaguns. Sammel, the plasma talons, manticore and vendetta provide enough Ap2 and I can torrent down Terminators and Sanguinary Guard with massed bolter fire; what this army needs is melta guns to crack those  transports open and ready to salvo to death its juicy contents.

The icing in the cake is a Darkshroud to provide Stealth to nearby units and help protect them in the early turns.

So to recap this is the list

Sammael

1x RW Command Squad
5 Black Knights including RW Champion (<--5 points to make precision shots and a EW? sold), Apothecary and Standard of Devastation

4x Ravenwing Attack Squads
6x Bikers, 3 squads have 2x meltaguns


1x Darkshroud

IG allies:

CCS, 3 meltaguns (<-- to shoot down drop podded dreads, monoliths or any other heavy armour that gets too close)

PCS, 4 flamers (<-- rides in Vendetta or stays back to protect the platoon)

3x Infantry Squads, 2x Autocannons, 2x Flamers

ADL with Quad-Gun

It's an army to likes to go first, turbo-boosting to get a 2++ cover save on the command squad/Darkshroud and 3++ on the bikes. The infantry platoon stays on home objectives and the manticore goes after high toughness/AV objectives. The RW grenade launcher can reduce the toughness of many nasty units to 5 (Wraiths and the like), making them susceptible to insta-death.

The worst match-ups that I can foresee would be going second against very shooty armies like Venom-spams or Tau / IG gunlines. The bikes should be deployed either out of LOS or range, and  reserved / outflanked if I can't protect them reliably.

Flyers... well I have decent AA. Not nearly enough to counter flyer-heavy armies but hopefully we'll be seeing less of those as more AA options are made available. And if come across 6 Scythes, well, at least I will enjoy a fun T1 :)

Not the most competitive of armies but something I'm really keen on fielding. I would appreciate feedback while I'm painting / building this army - any blatant weaknesses or suggestions for improvements?

Protecting the bolter banner

At this point, one of the biggest questions for Dark Angels players and opponents alike is around the increasingly popular Standard of Devastation, aka bolterbanner. For those travelling the warp during the last few weeks, this is a nifty piece of wargear that turns boltguns onto salvo 2/4 weapons. So a static Tactical squad pours 40 shots at 24", and a 6-man Ravenwing squad 24 twin-linked shots at 24", after moving 12". This is all good but has two main problems: mobility and survivability. Mobility can be solved to a certain extent by using Ravenwing bikers who are relentless and thus can move and shoot 4 times at full range.

But this solution only complicates more the issue of survivability. Let's see. The standards can only be carried by Command Squads (m'kay), and said squads can not be increased in number. So bog-standard and Deathwing will always have 5-man, Ravenwing only 3 bikers. Wait a minute. That's 200 points in 3 T5, 3+ save models. Houston we have a problem. Now the question is, can we get around it? Let's see.

The squad can't be increased in numbers, but this doesn't prevent ICs from joining it. Given that Sammael is a must for running Ravenwing (unless you're taking Azrael, but since he likes to foot slog it, we'll leave him in the Rock), we are already investing in a IC that can join the command squad and help tank wounds. Sammy has Eternal Warrior and a 4++, so can take a few shots. Now I'm not proposing to sacrifice Sammael in this role, as he becomes very valuable in the late game to contest objectives (24" turbo-boost woo-hoo), but rather suggesting that he can be there to escort the bikers T1, then move on to other role.


Small but important note here: the bolterbanner is not meant to be used 5 turns out of 6 in a game; it is rather an ace down your sleeve to decimate the opponent's troops and devs for a turn or two. Use the Attack Bikes / Land Speeders multi meltas to de-mech, then shoot it's juicy contents. But then move onto other things - the Ravenwing is short and numbers and quite fragile. It needs to be on the move, using its superior mobility to harass the opponent at distance. If the RW gets bogged down in CC, odds are it will bend.

4 twin-linked shots with just the left hand, huh!

Sammael aside, Dark Angels have access to two good, cheap and versatile ICs that can take a bike in the shape of the Librarian and Techmarine. A level 1 Libby in a bike is a bargain at 85 points; Divination is not really needed since all the boltguns are already twin-linked and well, seems a waste to use it in a couple of melta or plasma guns alone, although it will serve us well if we get in CC. Anyway, our Libby can select his powers from 4 disciplines and I'm sure we can get some good utility out of it. He can also access the armoury for a cheap auspex (-1 to cover saves) or a generator field for a 4++. Very very good.

The techmarine is even cheaper, at 70 points in a bike, and comes with a 2+ save default. An additional bonus is boosting the cover save of a ruin, which is handy for our small home unit or devs. His ability to repair HP will most times be wasted, I'm afraid. But the point is he can take a few hits and save them like a champ with his 2+. Bless the Omnisiah when he is no more :)

Interrogator-chaplains could also be used, but these are markedly more expensive HQs and we can get re-rolls from a Libby for half the price. Better pass.

On top of that first layer that is the IC save, we can get up to a 2+ cover save if going first, thanks to combined effects of jink, turbo-boosting, skiller rider and a nearby Dark Shroud. Yes Helldrakes and Dreadknights will ruin your day, but keep in mind these have to start in reserve and can't touch us T1. And most heavy support teams in the game will have to face the 2+ wall anyway.

Ravenwing Command Squad aside, the banner could also find other placements. I find these to be subpar options but are doable nonetheless:

Power armoured Command Squad in a Land Raider Crusader: This is an expensive proposition, but one that serves a few purposes. First of all, we can transport Azrael and his retinue with certain protection. Second, the hurricane bolters add up to the bolter fiesta. Third, many armies struggle with AV14 nowadays. Fourth, Land Raiders are bulky and can block LOS to our bikers behind it. I wouldn't field Land Raiders, but at least this is an idea.

Power armoured Command Squad in a Drop Pod: now this is more to my liking. It is very aggressive but could work if supported by other elements, like Deathwing armies. Again it solves the issue of moving Azrael around, as 215 points is a lot to be left behind, or be carried in a Rhino. The Drop Pod also opens the door of having a terminator armour IC tanking wounds; Libbies and Chaplains are good candidates here.

Deathwind Command Squad: this boosts the standard bearer survivability (remember you can give him a shield) but really hinders mobility i.e. the banner will only affect a small area, vs. the Ravenwing's standard bearer ability to affect 12" banner aura + 12" turbo-boost move + 12" banner aura again = 36" of banner goodness.

Conclusion

The Ravenwing seems the best candidate to utilise the standard or Devastation thanks to their superior mobility and relentless, twin-linked bolters, but the standard needs to be protected carefully so it can make it to T3/4 when it will have fulfilled its purpose. To do so we can't add more marines to the command squad, but we can use ICs and 2+ cover saves to protect it. To recap, some possible placements for the bolter banner are:

1. RW Command Squad + Sammael.
2. RW Command Squad + Sammael + Libby
3. RW Command Squad + Techmarine.
4. RW Command Squad + Chaplain.
5. Command Squad in a Land Raider Crusader
6. Command Squad in Drop pod + Azrael / 2+ toting IC.
7. DW Command Squad

What about you guys, have you used the bolter banner in a different set up? have a different perspective to share?

WIP Ravenwing bikers

Yes I'm officially in a Dark Angels frenzy! after the Tactical and Deathwing updates comes the Ravenwing bikers from Dark Vengeance! I've never been a great fan of this concept (Space Marines in a bike?) but I have to say the new minis are very cool, and I'm sure it's going to be a great fun to field a Ravenwing or Double wing army so I need to get these done.

At this moment all they need is a good base, paint some text in the scrolls and add the Ravenwing mark in the shoulder pad. I wonder if I should add some more weathering / chipping. Thoughts / opinions ?

Dark Angels from Dark Vengeance WIP

Just a quick update on the Dark Angels Tacticals and Ravenwing from the Dark Vengeance set. These minis are a blast to paint and I will be posting tutorials pretty soon on the Tactical, Ravenwing and Deathwing squads so stay tuned for more news!

Shoud I apply some OSL to the plasmagun?

The bases were originally meant for some CSM and that's why the look so dark and grim. No to mention it's the 40th millennium!

Needs some weathering and chipping but otherwise good to go