What made you choose Dark Angels?

[UtariOnzo]

Not a model @Skywrath but the book cover art

 

https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1307180750l/3422354.jpg

[aura_enchanted]

Sexy wingy helmets and robeys. Let's be honest robes and wingy helms are so cool

[1s=heretical]

Havnt built any but do like dark angels tri wing idea. And deathwing is just total badass

[shabbadoo]

This:

 

First Legion. Winged Sword coolness. Not sure when Rogue Trader was released during 1987, but I bought it late that year (yes I am long in the tooth). Yeah, I want to paint that.

Yeah, sucking chest wound, arm blown to crap, dripping blood from his mouth and trailing blood on the ground, he fights on, determined to kill every last thing whose continuing existence is an affront to The Emperor and The Lion. Dark Angels.

 

I paint much better than that now by the way.

 

With the Dark Angels I deeply internalized the whole grimdark thing, embodied in the the Dark Angels as: Fulfilling our purpose is our only duty, and the only honor to be found is in fulfilling that duty well. Anything else is a distraction, and distraction is dereliction. I have always viewed Space Marines this way, but Dark Angels more so than other Chapters. The other Primarchs I see as having flaws of character in some regards (ego specifically), but not the Lion, and that appeals to me.

 

Played Rogue Trader for a couple of years, and then didn't play for a year or two.

 

When I came back to the game, the armor had turned green.  The dark green worked well enough for me. I have always liked the green you see on a mallard duck, which would be similar to  phthalocyanine green (blue shade), and over the years I have seen that color in paint, but also others that looked more like Hooker's Green (Deep Hue), or Hunter Green, or phthalocyanine green (yellow shade). The current Dark Angels Green seems to be the last of those, but as people usually paint it over black primer, it looks more akin to the blue shade version in the end. Put it over white, and you will see that it balances more to yellow than blue.

 

If you haven't figured it out, I like dark green (Hunter Green). It is one of my favorite colors (maybe THE favorite), so the change was not a deal breaker for me. But that wasn't the only thing.

 

Along with the color change, a ton of Dark Angels (and other) fluff had been hammered out during my time away (latter part of Rogue Trader to 2E) - the Fallen, Ravenwing, Deathwing, etc. Still the vaunted First Legion, but now with a dark secret. Heavy handedly playing up the "Dark" part of the Dark Angels name, but it has worked out well. And the newer art was that much better than before, which doesn't hurt.

 

2nd Edition was  a magical developmental time, and those who lived it probably look back on it just as I do. We finally had really nice miniatures; for  Space Marines and other armies even, and better still we had miniatures specifically for the Dark Angels. One would necessarily have to be a soulless husk to not have their fires further stoked by that. We all got to know a bit more about this guy named Jes Goodwin, who helped us transition from this:

...to this:

There were also improved minis for Devastator and Assault squads, and for generic HQs. While the background was now that much better, if those miniatures didn't have one wanting to stay on track and say, "Fine! I'll go with green armor now!" well, you hate Jes Goodwin, are a heretic, and should be shown to the nearest airlock.

 

Even the rules for 3rd Edition, 3rd Edition Part 2, 4th Edition, 5th Edition, and 6th Edition could not kill my fervor for the Dark Angels. When one is tested, one emerges stronger (or not at all)!

 

And even though now, as we head into an era where not a few hundred or a few thousand Dark Angels fell under the influence of Luther (and others) and turned traitor, but a full 100 Chapters worth of First Legion turned traitor...and nobody seemed to notice...for 10,000 years...my fervor is no less than it ever was. The Dark Angels still mostly embody, "Duty isn't everything; it is the only thing," but they have lost their way. They have distractions, and so dereliction. That is their flaw. Others have a geneseed flaw, but the Dark Angels have this one.

 

So celebrate the Feast of Malediction, brothers, and prepare your forces, for we apparently have 98,000+ Fallen to kill before we can return the Dark Angels back to non-Durp! levels of cool.

Edited July 13, 2020 by shabbadoo

[Skywrath]

@jbaeza, looking forward to that squad! Got a Balthazar model coming, as my Azrael proxy, should have him up soon!

 

@Stobz, you know, I can REALLY see that happening. If we were to take the Blue Primarch (cheers for that term), his pronounced sense of idealism was tempered by the events of the Dark Imperium. Only makes sense that even though a space marine (and a primarch by that extension) is twice removed from humanity, psychological effects still have an effect. Would be quite refreshing to see the ultimate battle between the idealism of Gulliman was the pragmatism of the Lion. 

 

@UntariOnzo, thanks for that link. Games workshop came a long way since then.

 

@aura-enchanted, agreed.

 

@shabadoo, thanks for the background and story, hopefully the future looks as dark as it was pre-8th edition. 

[Sandalphon]

Not too shabby a summary there @shabadoo!

[Master Sheol]

What made me choose the DA was the BA

Seriously

I approched 40k in 2nd edition and the poster boys were the BA and i bought the codex Angels of Death (BA+DA) cause i loved the golden minis of Dante and Thyco (but i was into Asmodai mini too)

When i get into the DA lore however i was hooked by their story and by the fact they share the same Gothic look of the Imperium of Mankind

 

Since then even through bad codexes i never left the first legion

Edited July 16, 2020 by Master Sheol

[Herbington]

The short story is that I started DA because I bought a bike on ebay, and it was a Ravenwing bike.

 

When I was first getting back into the game a couple of years ago I wanted something to go with the smallest starter box I'd bought. So I had a look on ebay and that's what I ended up with.

 

Once I realised it was DA I had a read of the background, read a few novels and it went from there. I loved the lore, and especially the idea of the Ravenwing, so I just intended doing a RW force, but things got out of hand and I think I'll be over 10k of DA after the next starter...

Edited July 16, 2020 by Herbington

[Galloway]

Good stuff all. Not really sure how I got here really- I started out being into the pre-AoS fantasy game, having played some of the old roleplaying games, then much later playing the WAR MMO, and got into the lore and then collecting/painting that way. Basically went from a fantasy Tzeentch army to doing a Thousand Sons+Dark Mech army to here (*looks around nervously for the chaplains*). But gothic knights in space, with a fondness for plasma weapons (I research confining and using plasmas for my job) checked a real box for me. Plus the whole layers upon layers of secrecy, and what 10000 years of the hunt for the fallen has done psychologically to them. That that shame has defeated and warped them more than any other foe, and how they have responded to it, just grabs me. But even separate from the fallen, just how all the different parts of the setting- the historical and literary influences, the exploration of what 10000 years of history does to a culture, the inherent tensions (i.e. is the Imperium "good"?)- mix together in the Dark Angels has really grabbed me.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Galloway

[DarkRaven89]

For me it was 6th edition a friend of mine lent me his codex to look through a long with space marine codex at the time. Looked through it was thinking of doing Black Templars but saw that I can have a nice looking force of bikers of the Ravenwing and Sammael is probably my favorite model still.

[Raychu]

well I started back in 1994, I was 12 at the time.

I bought the 2nd edition box and I was going for space marines. Back in the time there were no codex, so I choose the color AND the way the paint scheme was easy to paint. As a matter of fact I painted something like 10 space marines in various chapters to see what I prefer.

 

then the angels of death codex came out, and with it all the goodies of robed marines and bone impossible white terminators.

 

I then stopped playing at around 1997, you know parties, girls etc. when I came back to the game in 2003-2004 with Dawn of War. my love for the green was still intact.

so now I go forth and will add some primaris boys in the next few weeks. I have too much to stop and to start something else.

[clanfield]

the box about feast of malediction and the white dwarf ravenwing  artical. i loved the black had half company back in rt days took a break after the color change came back in 3rd

 

whats not to love raven wing are slick deathwing grew on me the whole king arthur background  love it

[Helias_Tancred]

1. I read a lot of Black Library- Horus Heresy and 40k material. I really enjoyed the Dark Angel titles in both genres. I realized they have a lot off Black Library support and quality lore.

 

2. Some of the best model sculpts loaded with chapter iconography. I enjoy building, kit-bashing, and painting. 

 

3. My other army is Blood Angels. They tend to be assault focused, so the opportunity to play Dark Angels which are more shooty and combined arms-based really interested me. 

 

4. Love their colors.

 

5. I love the chapter culture; knightly, circles within circles ultra secretive, flawed heroes, stoic, taciturn, and somewhat fallen victim to the classical "ends justifies the means." Love Alajos, Corswain, Zaharial, Asmodai, Belial, Azrael and my favorite Dark Angel, Ezekiel. 

 

6. I really love Lion El'Jonson as a primarch (see #1).  My other beloved daddy is Sanguinius and he is near perfect while the Lion is more flawed and ultimately more interesting, yet still a loyal good guy. I also like the fact something just isn't quite right with him, whether its the strong predatory vibe he gives off, or maybe some deep rooted twist of chaos?

[Skywrath]

1. I read a lot of Black Library- Horus Heresy and 40k material. I really enjoyed the Dark Angel titles in both genres. I realized they have a lot off Black Library support and quality lore.

 

2. Some of the best model sculpts loaded with chapter iconography. I enjoy building, kit-bashing, and painting. 

 

3. My other army is Blood Angels. They tend to be assault focused, so the opportunity to play Dark Angels which are more shooty and combined arms-based really interested me. 

 

4. Love their colors.

 

5. I love the chapter culture; knightly, circles within circles ultra secretive, flawed heroes, stoic, taciturn, and somewhat fallen victim to the classical "ends justifies the means." Love Alajos, Corswain, Zaharial, Asmodai, Belial, Azrael and my favorite Dark Angel, Ezekiel. 

 

6. I really love Lion El'Jonson as a primarch (see #1).  My other beloved daddy is Sanguinius and he is near perfect while the Lion is more flawed and ultimately more interesting, yet still a loyal good guy. I also like the fact something just isn't quite right with him, whether its the strong predatory vibe he gives off, or maybe some deep rooted twist of chaos?

 

Interrogator Stobz and his crozius will be with you shortly ;p

Edited July 17, 2020 by Skywrath

[Hantheman]

Dark vengeance miniatures.

 

The tri-wing concept.

 

Dark green is a nice colour.

 

Medieval knights in sci fi environment.

[Chaplain Raeven]

I got talked into it by a smooth GW-salesman on my first visit to London. I knew the game, since I've played Dawn of War, so a store with all the miniatures I knew so well was worth a visit. When I saw the DV-box with green Marines (my favorite colour), robed HQ's (I love the old school Knightly garb) and a squad of terminators (favorite units in the game), the salesman needn't much to convince me. Digging through the codex afterwards, I was completely sold. The Fall of Caliban was so intriguing and the story about the Deathwing so awesome, I was hooked. Even after all these years, I would stiil choose them over another faction. Only Raven Guard or Night Lords would be contenders, but that's after reading up on their lore.

 

Switched to a Successor these last years, but that's because I wanted to eat from the tasty pie that is Forgeworld. Got a bit carried away with it.

 

 

 

Interrogator Stobz and his crozius will be with you shortly ;p

 

I love how even our Neophytes already know of Stobz's reputation. They learn quick, or they die.

 

+++BLESSED IS THE MIND TOO SMALL FOR DOUBT+++

Edited July 17, 2020 by Chaplain Grey Raven

[Skywrath]

Oh yes, Stobz's proficiency with his crozius is legendary, secondary only to his oratory skills ;p

[SvenIronhand]

The knightly themes.

[Varizel]

The models are really good when i first saw them. The fluff from the codex --  well, Index Astartes I -- was pretty good too, and i read the novel Deathwing & The Unforgiven short story (Graham Mcneill i think... not Gav Thorpe's omnibus). So, i replaced my Ultra with it (hey, i was just starting marines back then, and i painted it just like the front picture on the box... blue and gold ).

 

Strangely though.... AFTER i repainted and read more Black Library Novels about Dark Angels... i realized the fluff are all over the place and rarely matches the description in the codex about Dark Angels.... not only that... the rules are mostly garbage. Heck i still can't forgive GW for stating stuffs like... ooo Dark Angels has their own forgeworld, and they are like... totally way down there quality wise compared to the wider imperium, thus you got 1 shot CML, 4++ SS, Havok Launcher stats Typhoon Missile Launcher, and other stuffs.  But this is probably a topic of another day and time.

 

Did i regret painting them dark angels? no....  but i cringe every time i heard some new guy in my local group said he started Dark Angels... oo man, you gonna know the pain.

 

My 2 cents.

[solarisqc]

I start in 3rd edition with the choice of space marine in blue, red, grey and green. When they release 3rd edition, they was no codex so no big distinction betwen different chapter. There was a small note about deathwing and ravenwing for the dark angel chapter that let you make an all termi or all bike armies. The ravenwing got my attention.

 

Ultramarine was the standard marine in blue

Bloodangel was the space vampire with the thirst and the death compagny

Space wolf was... spacewolf

Dark Angel was... normal marine with a little twist in the organisation, 3 color scheme built-in the same armies, robe, secret, part of the imperium but apart from it (back then the DA was the only imperial armies with no acces to assasin and inquisitor because of a special rules in the DA codex)

 

I found the DA as the most interesting armies of the different SM available. When i start to read about the DA i fell in love with them.

 

I choose the DA because for me it was like having acces to 3 armies, greenwing, deathwing and ravenwing. I choose the ravenwing and a friend of mine choose the deathwing. We exchange armies sometime and after building more than 3k of ravenwing I move to the greenwing knowing i can still borrow my friend deathwing if need.

 

With time my armies grow to almost a full ravenwing, almost 2 compagny of greenwing and not 1 terminator. (i got my first Deathwing terminator last year used). I build my armies before Dark vengeance, when ravenwing model was normal bike with a metal wing on the back for the sergent. Ravenwing armement was mandatory, Land speeder was tornado (HB/AC) and attack bike was MM only, Samael/belial was not named and it was only generic master of the Deathwing/Ravenwing thet you can build as you like.

 

This is realy what make me like the DA, the Greenwing was the normal marine with special character but the deathwing and ravenwing was the special armies that was not available to anyone else.

[bigtrouble]

My buddy got the 2nd edition box set back in the day, so he had BA and Orks already. He wanted me to play so we went in on the Angels of Death Codex as soon as it came out. I loved the DA gothic artwork, swords, dark secrets and of course, the Deathwing. It fit my darker side, and was easy for us to get started together. I stopped collecting a long time ago, and haven’t bought a codex since 5th. I don’t even know what happened to half my army, probably in a hobby box in my parents basement still, but I still love Dark Angels.

[Chaplain Lucifer]

What made me choose the DA was the BA

Seriously

I approched 40k in 2nd edition and the poster boys were the BA and i bought the codex Angels of Death (BA+DA) cause i loved the golden minis of Dante and Thyco (but i was into Asmodai mini too)

When i get into the DA lore however i was hooked by their story and by the fact they share the same Gothic look of the Imperium of Mankind

 

Since then even through bad codexes i never left the first legion

 

I can say almost the same... When I started the BA were the poster boys (2nd Ed) and a friend was already doing them so I started researching saw Asmodai and boom was hooked in DA colours and robes...

[Master Sheol]

 

What made me choose the DA was the BA

Seriously

I approched 40k in 2nd edition and the poster boys were the BA and i bought the codex Angels of Death (BA+DA) cause i loved the golden minis of Dante and Thyco (but i was into Asmodai mini too)

When i get into the DA lore however i was hooked by their story and by the fact they share the same Gothic look of the Imperium of Mankind

 

Since then even through bad codexes i never left the first legion

 

I can say almost the same... When I started the BA were the poster boys (2nd Ed) and a friend was already doing them so I started researching saw Asmodai and boom was hooked in DA colours and robes...

 

Yep me too

I saw a brochure they gave me with the 2nd edition boxed set with photos of various miniatures for 40K

The SM ones were Tycho, Corbulo, Asmodai and Calgar and i was hooked by Tycho and Asmodai so i decded to pick up the codex Angels of Death and i started my love for the first legion