Space Marine Dark Angel
HQ Tactics

In this section we will look at the tactics related to the Dark Angel HQ choices. To makes sense of these notes you will need the Warhammer 40k Rulebook and the Warhammer 40k Dark Angel Codex.

> Also Buy: Your 2013 Codex Dark Angels here!

Named HQ Choices

The Dark Angel Space Marine chapter has a number of named characters that have special rules. Be careful of special rule character. Their point values will have been increase to cover these special rule, so if you take these characters and do not use the special rules, then you will be throwing your points away.

Azrael, Supreme Grand Master Tactics

Azrael is the most senior Dark Angel leader. Because of this he is the most expensive character available, and has the most special rules. Unlike most Chapter Masters Azrael's special rules are as much about empowering the unit he is in as it is about giving Azrael more punch. This is quite different from the other Space Marine Chapter Masters and Special characters.

Wargear

Azrael has some wargear. His Combi-Bolter, Plasma Gun is master crafted so the one shot plasma gun a better chance of hitting and not over heating. Azrael's Power Weapon is S6 and he has Artificer armour that gives a 2+ save and the Feel No Pain special rule on a 6+. These are fairly standard and not worth the high points cost. The last war gear item is special. The Lion Helm gives his whole unit invulnerable saves.

All this means that Azrael is more able to survive a fire fight than a close combat fight. This means that you may want to hold back on Azrael until you have thinned out the enemy with fire power and then assault with your HQ & command squad unit later.

Warlord Trait

If you field Azrael then he will automatically become your warlord. As such you will need to roll against the Warlord table, however Azrael can only one of the Dark Angel warlord traits in the Codex, however you do have the option to pick which one. This means that you can factor in Azrael's warlord trait in to your tactics before you arrive at the game. Other armies will have to react to the trait rolled at the start of each game.

Belial, Master of Deathwing Tactics

Belial is the master of the Deathwing, and as such his stats are nearly as good as Azrael's ( lower attacks and wounds). He does have fewer special rules so the points cost is notably lower. This means that Belial can make a great substitution if you are needing a hard hitting character but you are needing to budget your points.

Deathwing Army

If you field Belial then you can take regular Deathwing terminator squads as troop choices. This means that you can have a terminator only army. You can see the rules for this in a box on page 92. As this is effectively a complete new army I have created a whole tactics section for the Deathwing Army here.

Belial's Strength And Weapons

Belial comes with the usual Space Marine Terminator armour and Storm Bolter. In addition to this Belial comes with a master crafted 2+ to hit, AP3 power sword, called the Sword Of Silence. This is a great weapon to slice through Space Marine and Chaos Marine power armour.

The Sword of Silence is a great close combat weapon against Power Armour, but it will struggle against tanks, and have too few attackers to handle massed troops like Guardsmen, Smaller Tyranids and Orks. If you know that you are facing armies like this then the Storm Shield and Thunder Hammer weapon choice will be a better option against tanks, and the Lightning Claw option against horde armies.

Belial's Toughness and Special Rules

Belial comes with Terminator armour. This gives him a good amount of protection from both close assault and ranged weapon fire. The Iron Halo that he comes with improves his invulnerable save down to 4+ too. However all this armour does not make him totally invulnerable. Enough anti-tank or psychic attacks will tack him down. This is why teaming Belial up with a Command Squad or attached to a regular Deathwing Terminator Squad is a good idea.

** Note ** The Iron Halo is missing from the Wargear list in the Army List section ( p92 ). The Dark Angel FAQ available from the Game Workshop website notes this error. Downloading and reading this FAQ is highly recommend.

Deathwing Assault, Tactical Precision & Vengeful Strike

These three special rules work together to make Belial a superb assassin. He can drop in on turn one or two to any point on the table, without scattering, with a squad of Terminators, Terminator Knights, or Veteran Dark Angel marines. Once landed they get the twin linked special rule on all weapons. All you have to work out is how to extract them again before the enemy can counter strike ( where is a Land Raider when you need one! ).

Sammael, Master of Ravenwing Tactics

Sammael is the Master of the Ravenwing, the bike and land speeder arm of the Dark Angel army. Because of this, Sammael is one of the few character in the Warhammer 40k game that come with transport attached (instead of being an optional extra).

Sammael has two modes of transport he had choose from, A Land Speeder, or a Jet Bike. Yes that is correct, Sammael is the only Space Marine that can have a Eldar like Jet Bike.

Ezekiel, Grand Master Librarians

Librarians are much more useful in the 6th Edition of Warhammer 40000 than they have for several update of the rules ( 2nd edition really ). Because the Librarians are now much more of a games changer you may want to make sure you have one in your army.

The most powerful psyker in the Dark Angel army is Ezekiel, the Grand Master Librarian. Ezekiel come at quite a points cost though. This means that having a game plan for Ezekiel is important. If you do not know who you are facing, for example in a tournament, then you will need to plan several strategies so that you can pre-empt as many possibilities and have a pre-prepaid response.

Asmodai Interrogator-Chaplain Tactics

Asmodai is the chief chaplain of the Dark Angel army. He was missing from the 2006 Dark Angel codex but makes a return in the 2013 Dark Angel Codex.

Asmodai is an Interrogator-Chaplin with a few additional rules at a add 30 points cost. As long as you remember to use the additional special rules, Asmodai works out as a good deal!

Warlord Trait

Asmodai gets one fixed warlord trait from the Dark Angel codex, ' The Hunt '. This means that you will want Asmodai to be present when you assault the enemy's warlord's unit.

Inner Circle & Zealot

Asmodai has two overlapping special rules. The Inner Circle spacial rule gives the Fearless & Preferred Enemy ( Chaos Space Marines ) and the Zealot spacial rule which gives the fearless and Hatred () special rules. The Hatred special allows Asmodai and the unit he is with to re-roll misses in the first round of combat. However the Hatred special rule usually states which enemy is hated. What is not clear in the Dark Angel Codex or the FAQ for the Dark Angel Codex, is if the Preferred Enemy ( Chaos Space Marine ) passes this preference to the Hatred special rule too. As this is not clear in the rules, you will need to agree before you start the game because this greatly changes the value of Asmodia if you are playing any army other than Chaos Space Marines.

Dark Angel Company Master Tactics

The Company Master is the standard HQ choice for the Dark Angel Army.

The Company Master is comparable with the Generic Space Marine Captain, and costs the same points. The difference is that The Dark Angel Company Master has one less point of weapon skill, but is fearless, and gains something far more valuable, the 'Rights of Battle' special rule.

Dark Angel Chaplain Tactics

The Dark Angel Chaplain is comparable to the regular Codex: Space Marine Chaplain. One item to note here is that the Dark Angel Chaplains are not part of the Inner Circle, so they do not have the same leadership based special rules. They do get the 'Zelot' special rule though which is just about the same.

Dark Angel Librarian Tactics

The Librarians are the Psyker of the Space Marine Army. The Dark Angel Space Marine Librarians work in a very similar way to the Standard Space Marine Librarian. The main difference is that they have different psychic powers.

In the Warhammer 40k 6th edition rules the Psykers have become much more useful. Now Psykers get one ( Level 1 psykers ) or two ( Level 2 psykers ) powers from a selection. The Dark Angel Librarians get to choose between the Divination, Pyromancy, Telepathy, or Telekinesis lists. These psychic power lists can be found in the main Warhammer 40k rulebook. If you are new to the Warhammer 40k psychic powers, I would recommend getting use to one list, and expanding to the other lists over time.

Command Squads

The Characters on their own are a great target. It works best if you give them a body guard.

The Command Squad are Veteran Dark Angel Space Marines. They add extra punch if you can get them in to close combat.

HQ Characters: Company Champion, Apothecary, & Standard Barer

Three of the Command Squad Marines can be upgraded to special characters. These characters are a Company Champion, an Apothecary, and a Standard Barer.

Deathwing Command Squad

In the 2013 Dark Angel codex you have the option to take a Deathwing Command Squad. These make sense if you have a HQ character in Terminator Armour and plan to do a Deathwing Assault with backup.

The rules do read like you can have a Command Squad and a Deathwing Command Squad, if the points stretch. However I am sure that Games Workshop will release a FAQ that states that you can only have one command squad per HQ character.

Ravenwing Command Squad Tactics

If you have a HQ character on a Bike, then backing them up with a Ravenwing Command Squad makes sense.

Dark Angel Techmarine Tactics

If you take one or more HQ Characters then you may have the same number of Techmarines in your army. The Dark Angel Techmarines are different from the 'Codex' Techmarines in several ways.

One difference between the Dark Angel Techmarine and the Codex Space Marine Techmarine is that it appears in the HQ section instead of the Elite section. This is mainly because the Dark Angels do not have a ' Master of the Forge ' option. It should be noticed that there is not a Thundercannon option for the Dark Angel army either.

Blessing of the Ommissiah

Dark Angel Techmarines are now as good at repairing Tanks as their Codex counter parts. Dark Angel Techmarines now only need a 5+. Also the Dark Angel Techmarine Servo Harness now adds 1 on to the dice roll like the Codex Space Marine too. Add a couple of Servitors with servo arms and you can think about repairing a sizable number of Tank Hull points on a 2+ .

Does not use a HQ Slot

As noted in the introduction, the Dark Angel Techmarines do not use up a HQ slot even though they are elite troops. This means that you can have two HQ choices and extra Techmarines on top. You do have to have none-dedicated Vehicles in you army to have Techmarines. The rules are unclear as to if a Dreadnought counts as a vehicle. If it doesn't I can not understand the rule that you can have one Techmarine for each vehicle in the Elite section as there are no other choices. This might have to be decided by house rules!

Note Just to add to the mix, no vehicles are dedicated any more as transport can be used for any friendly squad.

Servitors

Servitors are helpers for the Techmarines. They come in two broad types. The first type have servo-arms that help Techmarines fix tanks and have powerfist close combat attacks. The second type are upgraded with heavy weapons. As you can have up to four servitors per Techmarine, this could be a hard hitting close combat unit, or a close support fire base. I do notice that the Plasma Cannons for the Sevitors are 5 pints more than the Devastator squads, so for best value keep to the Heavy-Bolter or Multi-Melta options.