Deciding on which chapter

[Submarine]

I have posted elsewhere about choosing a SM chapter.

 

I would like one that has access to the vehicles as well as some good close combat troops and is competitive in the game. I can't choose blood Angels because my opponent has them.

 

I was considering dark angels. I like the mythology and most of the models.

 

I wanted to know how they do generally, are they a competitive army and interesting to collect. Are there standard builds?

 

 

Cheers

[SnakeChisler]

There different and can by various means field an army full of troop choices

 

Typical lists

 

Sammael + Psyker Biker Ravenwing Command + Bikes & Speeders + Spam Banner

 

Belial - All Terminator DS turn 1 list

 

Azreal - All troops Terminator / Bikes mixed list

 

Top models and bang for your buck items

Ravenwing Black Knights / Command (twin plasma on bikes)

Deathwing Knights - ws5 with a 1 use sledgehammer + other rules

Banner of devastation (makes all Codex DA Salvo 4/2 with bolters) usually used on bikes

Power Field Generator (4+ 3" invulnerable bubble) without this item I would simply not be able to compete with some of the power builds I've come across.

 

As an Ally 

Librarian on Bike with PFG + Full Ravenwing Command  + Grenade Launcher (Rad & Stasis + frag & crack) + 5 Snipers, the CS are pretty useful in combat with S5 rending weapons as standard and push out twin linked rapid fire plasma for overwatch fun and do a decent job of taking down the odd aircraft.

 

As a main force there are others that do a full Mech better (Iron Hands) but the PFG near tanks is sweet especially if your up against a load of ignores cover stuff

 

There's a shed load of pimp in the DA boxed sets as well so you can get some well flashy units put together so as a painting / modeling army there about the best for add on bits.

[Disciple of Caliban Sgt]

Here's the thing to remember with DA. We aren't the best army on the table top for lots of things. However we are a good "I want to play a bit harder marines." Our Anti Air doesn't work so well but it can work but not nearly as cheap as many other armies. We do have the option to play the different armies stated by Snake. We do All Termi's and All Bikes and a really good version that mixes the two. We do not get the fancy toys like sternguard or Centurions.

What I tell lots of people and have found is that the DA are a great army but they take a lot to learn. You will lose quite a bit but once you get the hang of it there isn't much more fun than beating some guy in your Club who has a "awesome army" and your "only DA" smack them around.

 

But as with most things in this hobby if you feel like the fluff and models are cool absolutely go for it. I love the fluff so I play with them. If you are getting beat too bad there is allies or just paint them up like DA and play the Vanilla codex.

 

Me I like playing a codex that isn't 'easy to win' with. It has made me a better general in the overall gameplay I think.

 

DoC

[Pigshead]

I've only been playing about 18 months, I took Dark Angels to start with. I played a lot of games, I lost a lot. Now, 18 months later, I win about half my games, I win more often vs Chaos Marines.

 

They maybe aren't the easiest army for someone new to the game, like I was, there's a lot of subtlety to playing them, I feel. And luck... You sometimes need a lot of luck.

You need to be prepared to sometimes have games where your black knights all get hot, and fry themselves.

You need to realize that "Oh My, It seems my 21 man deathwing army is drowning in a sea of Orcs"  Is essentially "I picked the wrong list".

You need to accept that the ability to not be able to choose to fail a leadership roll sometimes matters, and can be upsetting.

You need to not mind that you don't have an "I win" button.

In my opinion, Dark Angels are great fun to play if you enjoy playing the game no matter what. They can be decently competitive in the right circumstances and situations, especially if you have a rough idea of what opponent you will be facing. My only remotely competitive play has been in friendly 5/6 man slow grow tournaments among friends, and the nature of that tournament means that my army has grown to be purpose built around countering specific other players armies. As a result, I do well against the CSM and Iron Hands armies, but struggle with the greenskins and demons. I think that's the nature of Dark Angels for me, they are a bit of a swiss army knife, in my opinion, but if you take out the wrong blade...well....good look to you cutting that branch whilst using the thing to get stones out of horses hooves...

[Submarine]

Thanks for all your replies. Would you say that the comments you make apply to space marines in general or is it dark angels specifically. I don't get the impression that space marines are an elite highly competitive army. That doesn't bother me, but I was wondering if that applied to all chapters.

[Chaplain Lucifer]

If it's vehicles and competitiveness you're looking for than SM are better than DA. DA needs more patience and practice to be in the same level of competitiveness than other marines. Sure they have good builds, but even they are not failproof if you don't know what you are doing.

[SnakeChisler]

Space marines in general are fairly competitive these days

 

Some General SM builds

Tigarius + Centurions

Clan Raukan (IRON Hands) + a ton of mech

White Scars - Biker Biker Biker

 

DA have some quirks that need practice with though but can mix quite a few things in there, they do however pay a premium points wise so you need to get the best out of them, the other thing is you have easy access to cheaper models with the Dark Vengeance box set with the 2 HQ's an accepted substitute for Azikiel & Azreal.  

 

Unique SM builds

Space Wolves (Probably the 2nd best for pimp and getting cool looking units though the new dreads look awesome)

Grey Knights

 

Other things to consider

 

Allies

Planes with the Stormwing Formation Dataslate

Inqusition Codex

Assassins Codex

Legion of the Damned Codex

Imperial Knights

 

None of which takes you into Lords of War or ForgeWorld territory so with your main chapter you can add and mix to give yourself some options were you think its weak