Old school DA player coming back. Next purchases?

[Paulie771]

I played DA back in 3rd and 4th and tried to get back in with 7th but just couldn't. Had a couple of demos of 8th and I'm in both both feet. I've picked up a Marine start collecting box, a box of sniper scouts (for picking off buffing characters), and split the most recent starter so I have all the Primaris stuff as well.

 

What would you all recommend as my next purchase or three? I'm seriously leaning toward some DW Knights and RW knights but could also see me fleshing out a green wing force with the tac squad/rhino box or two.

 

Obviously I would love a full DW force, but these rules seem to encourage combined arms so running all three wings at once seems like a good idea. Am I wrong in that assumption?

 

Thanks!

[Kewl Imp]

8th edition seems to favor variety. I've noticed a lot of spam armies fall really quickly. Some of the things most players including my repetitive self recommend is the Dark talon and the Dark shroud. The Dark Talon no matter which force you run. The Dark Shroud although very nice may not work well with a solid Deathwing.

[_evil_homer_]

You'll need something to crack open vehicles and monsters.  Lascannon Dev squad, a couple of twin las razorbacks, or an all las predator might not be bad.

[SnakeChisler]

A decent backup Heavy weapons unit is the good old Predator the Autocannon has had quite a buff and the two HB sponsors do the emperors work.

A more anti armour focus would be 2 Las + Autocannon as 8th has infinite split fire.

 

Devastator squads with various weapons all are pretty decent these days though MM is expensive and short range and Grav is better on Tactical squads again due to range.

 

Dark Shroud is a gift from the Lion himself and no DA general should leave home without 1

 

I've just put up some options on a post on the army list forum I'd check out the discussions currently going on to get a flavour of what people are planning.

[Brother Korahael]

The safest bet is probably a combined arms approach. Beef up your numbers with tacs, use the Primaris as a linchpin for each manoeuvre, get some DW assault termies (or DW Knights, they're hardcore) and a RW squad for flanking, you'll have a solid force to smash opponents.

 

My core force has never really changed since 3rd edition, and it's served me well. It's comprised of a Chaplain with jump pack, accompanying 1 squad of 10 assault marines, 3x 10 man tac squads in rhinos, 1 dev squad with 4 las and razorback with twin-las, and from this core I add whatever I think I'll need. By habit, all my sgts are vets with plasma and power weapons.

I don't know what your first must-have choice should be, but because you've got the Primaris from the box I'd lean towards bulking numbers with tacs. That said, DW knights are hardcore. If you need the extra punch in CC, go for them.

[Paulie771]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! While waiting on suggestions I went ahead and purchased a Dark Vengeance tac squad, Ravenwing squad, and a Deathwing termie squad, so add those to the bunch.

 

Seems like everyone so far agrees I'm light on anti-armor, so I'll pick up a dev squad for some LC and either a pred or razor back as well as the DW Knights.

 

If anyone has any other suggestions, please keep them coming!

 

Thanks again!

[Knight Master Eladric]

I was going to suggest going to ebay for a few cheap tactical/DW/RW squads. Not to mention a stand in Azrael (who is BOSS this edition) and Ezekiel. All of that from the dark vengeance set you can get piecemeal or sometimes while. If you want to diversify and can find it, the old dark vengeance *expansion* would be good. It has a DW kit, a RW Knights/command kit, and a flyer (obviously build the Dark Talon) like everyone says.

On top of that I'll recommend a unit I've been having great success with and that's made a huge comeback, the Land Raider. Standard provides good anti tank and the Crusader absolutely murders infantry.

[Aziras]

Going to add to this topic instead of starting an identical one. Same story for me, coming back (albeit from 2nd) and needing some guidance on how to navigate all the new units.

 

This is more or less what I have:

 

Troops:

3x 10man tactical squads, various special weapons and heavy weapons (+2 extra squads of the 2nd ed ugly plastic marines that I would rather not field)

10 assault marines w/ jump packs

10 terminators - one CCW squad (claws and h.flamer) and one stock termie squad with assault cannon

10 bikes - some special weapons

2 attack bikes - multi-melta + heavy bolter (and I think I saw the other parts in the bits box, so they can be swapped)

 

Vehicles:

2 dreads - one twin-LC+missile launcher and one twin-AC+missile launcher (launchers seems pretty good in 8th, so these will certainly get fielded)

1 predator

1 rhino

1 whirlwind

2 land speeders (oldschool metal ones, might need replacement for practical reasons)

 

Characters:

Azrael

Ezekiel

Termie captain (or whatever elite/sergeant)

Termie chaplain

Bike chaplain

jump pack chaplain

Jump pack captain

Standard bearer (did I see right that you cannot play this anymore? but only a DW ancient?)

 

Currently I am thinking the following additions:

DW Knights (love the models and want to paint them)

1 Dark Talon (didn't have real flyers back in the days, so this is new)

2x devastator squads (like the "new" models without shoulder-mounted H.weapons, so want a squad plus replace the h.weapons in the tactical squads with new models)

2 razorbacks (because shooty transports looks like tons of tactical value)

Scouts?

I might pick up a dark vengeance set if I can get one one locally on clearance now that the 8th ed rules makes it obsolete as anything but a model kit (I have a small chaos marine army as well, so those models will also be nice to have).

 

I will not be playing pure DW or RW as I quite like the shooty marine army feel. In terms of power gapfillers which of the additions would be the best value to compliment my current army?

 

Related question: any of the above models that I can just leave in the box and not bother wargear-updating?

[Cpt. Bannockburn]

The DV set is great value for its contents and the models are beautiful. It gives you 3 bikes, a squad of shooty terminators, a tac squad, a librarian and a captain that makes a great Azrael. All modelled as DA already with fitting iconography like sculpted chapter symbols on shoulderpads and feathers. Personally, I've bought another set of the bikers for cheap, rounding out to a good 6 biker squad with 2 plasma guns. (That's not to mention a bunch of spiky dudes)

 

Apart from that you're right. The Knights are gorgeous, even if I don't like the maces and the flail. Buy two sets and you also have all the material you need to model all three DW characters (Champion, Ancient, Apothecary).

 

The flyer kit is also a great model and one of the options seems to be working well on the TT.

 

A Darkshroud speeder also seems to be a great addition to any army.