The start of a new Dark Angels army.

[Jacinda]

All this started when I picked up 3 of those chapter upgrade sprues at a con last year but they were dirt cheap. So far I have 3 Deathwing squads, my Bilial conversion, 9 Ravenwing bikes, 1 attack bike, 1 land speeder and 15 veterans. I can come up with a full devistator squad and a tactical squad from other bits and parts around the shop but for a start, I want to do a Deathwing/Ravenwing mix.

 

So on with the questions ^.^

1 - When doing a DW Assault, I am assuming the general tactic is to scout a unit of bikes up to mid-board (12" only) and then deepstrike in off of their beacons. Deep strike happes after the scout move but before the normal movement starts, right?

 

2 - The ravenwing speeders can not be used for transport? I don't have a real copy of the Codex yet since I am still a good 2 months away from playing them, but I do not remember seeing the storm variant as an option.

 

3 - Which is better for Sammael, the jetbike or the land speeder?

 

4 - My next acquisition should be ....? Venerable Dreads? More terminators? A Land Raider? Sammael? Predators?

 

5 - I should add ... I have my DW squads equiped with: TH/SS, TH/SS/CML, 2LC, SB/CF and the sgt with SB/PS. This lets me play the wound allocation shell game but is being neither shooty nor assualt going to cause me more problems than it's worth?

 

 

 

Thank you for your patience and any help you can share.

 

[edit to fix the sgt weapons]

[timmytool]

1 yes but you dont always need to DS and if you do 1 or 3 only as you dont want to much in reserves when each sq cost so much (also the CML has such good game you dont want to miss turns without it.)

2 get the codex, that being said it was released well after our codex was released.

3 both have their perks but I like the jetbike with a plasma cannon better shame neither can join a squad (not a IC)

4 until you can field a pure DW army (with 3 typhoons and 1 LR's) more termis are always a essential purchase.(get the combat boxs and make CML's out of the 4 extra typhoon pods)

 

5 try th/ss th/ss,CML SB/CF SB/PF 2LC. I find the sergeant with a powersword to be sub optimal not a good shot and 2LCs get the extra attack and re-rolls at initiative so the sword is worthless

(btw the sergeant can be any model except the SB/PF guy in this config)

[ForTheLion]

you can also scout 24 inches if you want as long as you stay 18 inches way from youre opponent, that usualy help a lot more since then you can DS the termies even closer . Its a rather arguementative topic but in most cases people accept that the newest General rulebook FAQ will trump a 2/3 year old codex from previous edition, not to mention that i havent seen a single TO that said no to this

[Jacinda]

I don't see it coming up very often anyway since for most games all you need is 6" to get within 18" of an enemy model ^.^

[Netfreakk]

you can also scout 24 inches if you want as long as you stay 18 inches way from youre opponent, that usualy help a lot more since then you can DS the termies even closer . Its a rather arguementative topic but in most cases people accept that the newest General rulebook FAQ will trump a 2/3 year old codex from previous edition, not to mention that i havent seen a single TO that said no to this

 

Though the codex is older than the rulebook, the codex trumps the rulebook.

 

Codex FAQ > Codex > Rulebook FAQ > Rulebook.

 

You were correct when you first stated to 12" scout move.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

 

Now to address your questions:

1 - When doing a DW Assault, I am assuming the general tactic is to scout a unit of bikes up to mid-board (12" only) and then deepstrike in off of their beacons. Deep strike happes after the scout move but before the normal movement starts, right?

 

Yes, but this is all situational and no one can really give you a good general rule as it really depends on how the terrain is setup / deployment type / mission type / and where your opponent is setting up / who goes first.

 

2 - The ravenwing speeders can not be used for transport? I don't have a real copy of the Codex yet since I am still a good 2 months away from playing them, but I do not remember seeing the storm variant as an option.

You are correct, there is no Landspeeder transport in the Dark Angel Codex.

 

3 - Which is better for Sammael, the jetbike or the land speeder?

I personally like using the jetbike for several reasons. #1. meta game wise people are very prone to have meltas and such so Sam's 14 armor is not that great of a protection. #2. To utilize all of his weapons you have to be 24" away, which will make it easy for you to get melta'ed. #3. though Sam cannot join a squad he can still support and assault with other units + his plasma cannon with a BS of 5 is really good as the average movement of a template is 7".

 

4 - My next acquisition should be ....? Venerable Dreads? More terminators? A Land Raider? Sammael? Predators?

This is really up to you and your play style. Depending on your terminator count you might want to use a Landraider Crusader to help give you a delivery system / a LOS blocker for your bikes / Frag grenades for the initial charge. It really depends on your point limits as well. In 2000 point games I like having mulitple Ven Dreads to occupy a radius of space to deter vehicles like Land Raiders and to soak up shots, but they're slower so it really depends on how you're using your bikes. Are they the main component or are they supplimentary.

 

5 - I should add ... I have my DW squads equiped with: TH/SS, TH/SS/CML, 2LC, SB/CF and the sgt with SS/PS. This lets me play the wound allocation shell game but is being neither shooty nor assualt going to cause me more problems than it's worth?

 

Once again it depends on their roles. If you have a land raider, I like to make it all CC oriented because I have a delivery system in place. However, if you're footslogging you probably want more shots to not "waste" a turn. I say "waste" because if they're CC oriented you usually run and if they're shooty they usually shoot. A mix is good by all means, but it's a tough balance. As I stated this will depend on how many squads you have and how many bikes are there for supporting fire. This will be determined by your play style.

 

Also you Sgt can't have a Storm Shield and Power Sword. He can only have his SB/PS ; SS/TH ; 2xLC.

 

Hope this helps.

[Jacinda]

Oops, sorry about that., The seargents have the standard stormbolter and power sword loadout. I messed up the acronyms.

[Netfreakk]

I also apologize for the vague responses. Tactical questions are always hard to address as it's very situational and dependant on your play style.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Throw a Tactical Squad with a Rhino in the mix. Lascannon or ML for the heavy, meltagun for the special. Possibly a plasma pistol for the sergeant if you have the points. The reason for this: objective control. You don't want to tie up Ravenwing or Deathwing units holding objectives. Ravenwing aren't very good at it, and Deathwing are too valulable to leave tied to an objective. One Tac Squad combat squadded can hold two objectives, and each combat squad costs roughly half of what a DWT Squad would cost. Frees up your DWTs to kill things, which is what you want them doing.