Greenwing Tactics Part 2: Elite and HQ

Greenwing Tactics Part 2: Elite and HQ

Part two of the greenwing tactics as requested by /u/Redbaron67. This is where the Dark Angels set themselves apart from other chapters.

Company Veterans Squad
The first unique Dark Angels unit doesn’t make the Greenwing look very good. For 4 points more than regular marines you get a squad of 5-10 with veteran statlines and the option for every model to take a shield, ranged weapon, or melee weapon. Additionally they can always take a heavy weapon and can take one special weapon for every five models. I normally don’t go into that much detail about what options a unit has, but I feel like I need to in this case because these guys are so bad and so rarely seen. With just a marine statline you don’t want to be kitting them out with too much equipment and they aren’t required in any formation, just an option for the demi-company. If you really want to max out your MSU and take them as part of a demi-company, give them all combi-meltas and a drop pod and have a decent chance to roast a tank turn 1 with a unit that’s slightly cheaper than sternguard veterans but a bit less accurate.

Dark Angels Command Squad
Pretty much the better version of Company Veterans, the Greenwing command squad can take every single melee, ranged, and special weapon available to us, as well as storm shields, an apothecary, standard bearer, and a company champion. Like the Company Veterans, they’re still just marines, so don’t go overboard with the upgrades for them. Luckily, one of our standards is the sacred standard, which grants counter-attack and relentless. Give all five of them grav guns and the standard for a relatively cheap, obsec suicide pod squad that’s a pain in the ass to charge in the Lion’s Blade. The apothecary is optional but not a waste of points, and the champion is identical to a standard marines champion but has a sword with +1S, which I’d like to imagine is a tiny nod to Dark Angels being expert swordsmen.

Company Master
Lacking the option for a bike is damning for a character who’s only real purpose is melee combat. While you’d otherwise want to skip the Company Master, he is unfortunately required as part of the Lion’s Blade Battle Company. If you aren’t going to just keep him at his base cost and stick him with his tax-unit pals, an assault squad, he can serve as an ok but kind of expensive buffer to a command squad. Give him a combi-grav or auspex and The Eye of the Unseen and drop him with a grav-gun command squad for a now slightly tougher suicide pod squad. If you want to be fluffy and make them a little better in melee, give him a relic blade and take a champion in the squad (or a power fist somewhere). Still, skip this guy unless you need him for the Battle Company.

Chaplain
Can’t take relics, but unlike a Company Master he can take a bike. He’s required for a Battle Company, but also unlike the Company Master that’s not a bad thing. I would either keep him cheap and toss him with a drop pod assault squad, or put him on a bike if you’re taking any allies on bikes *cough* black knights *cough*. If you aren’t taking a Battle Company he’s still a decent choice, but remember Greenwing don’t have a lot of good melee options, so he’s best buffing Ravenwing or allies.

Ezekiel
Zeke is awesome, and unlike other chapters’ librarians he doesn’t need to bring a whole entourage with him to be taken in our Decurion. I praised this guy a bit in my Deathwing entry but he can really shine with the Greenwing. His warlord trait is pretty bad, but you’ll have at least two other HQ’s in a Battle Company and his other abilities are excellent. A better statline than your average librarian, ML3, and a +1 attack aura for everyone around him, for a lower price that Tigirius before you even consider the two boot-lickers Tiggy has to bring with him. He’s not a must-take but Zeke can do everything from buffing a command squad to helping your dudes hold the line, and makes your whole army a lot of flexible. He’s almost never a bad choice for any type of Greenwing army.

Librarian and Interrogator Chaplain
This article is running a bit long and I want to get to this last entry, but I shouldn’t leave these guys out. Both of them can be taken in a Lion’s Blade but don’t have a lot to offer the Greenwing. One level 2 psyker isn’t enough to reliably do the psychic things you’ll need, while Interrogator Chaplains are big melee buffers which Greenwing don’t need.

Azrael
He’s got a personal banner on his back, personal helmet bearer, and costs almost as much as a Land Raider. For that you get a pretty good statline (although no Eternal Warrior is worrying) an ok melee weapon and a couple special rules. Army-wide leadership 10 is useful, and no one will say no to +1 to seize. Picking his warlord trait and the 4+ invulnerable save for his squad are both powerful but situational tools, especially for someone as expensive as him. Azrael certainly isn’t bad, but for his price tag and potential to dying to a random lascannon shot, make sure you have a purpose for him before including him.

If you’re wondering where Dreadnoughts and the tanks are, those will be covered in the next article before I wrap it all up with a discussion of the Lion’s Blade Detachment and it’s formations.

Greenwing Tactics Part 1: Troops, Heavy Support, and Fast Attack

Greenwing Tactics Part 1: Troops, Heavy Support, and Fast Attack

Hope everyone had happy holidays! In a pretty interesting stroke of luck for me, the runner up for the painting contest, /u/Redbaron67 requested a Greenwing tactics series. 

I’m going to work my way up with this one, starting with their basic choices and moving up to formations and detachments. Unlike with the Deathwing, I don’t have a disclaimer about competitive play for these guys. Dark Angels have some funky options but as a whole work quite well in the competitive scene and a few of their options are flat out better than other chapters.

The only special rule worth mentioning here is Grim Resolve, which is our version of Chapter Tactics (but is not actually called that) and gives all Dark Angels Stubborn and overwatch at BS 2 (or full BS in our Lion’s Blade Detachment).

Dark Angels Tactical Squad
Identical to codex marines except losing chapter tactics for Grim Resolve. Against some armies that extra BS on overwatch is killer, and I think the best way to run them, especially in a Lion’s Blade, is keeping them cheap with bolters. Most of the heavy lifting in a Dark Angels list is going to be done by whoever you’ve supplemented your Greenwing, so leave your tactical marines cheap to go sit on objectives and never run away. If you want to give them a weapon upgrade, grav cannons and heavy bolters synergize nicely with the extra overwatch BS. Without doctrines to buff our BS, I wouldn’t recommend relying on melta-pod squads to kill vehicles, but having one or two of them as an early distraction isn’t a bad idea. I’d recommend drop pods or razorbacks for their transports if you’ve kept them cheap.

Dark Angels Scout Squad
If there’s Greenwing in your list, I expect to always see these guys. They’re the cheapest troops for a CAD, and they’re the cheapest auxiliary for the Lion’s Blade. Like the tactical squads, keep them cheap and give them bolters to take advantage of the extra couple hits you get on overwatch.

Dark Angels Assault Squad
With no other option for fast attack in a Lion’s Blade, these guys are the biggest tax on a battle company formation. They don’t benefit much from Grim Resolve and kitting them out for combat is a waste of points. Just give them flamers and a drop pod and roast some backline units or sit on an objective.

Dark Angels Devastator Squad
BS 2 or 4 overwatch with grav cannons is amazing. You’ll need two of these units for a battle company and Grim Resolve probably benefits devastators more than any chapter tactics except White Scars. I put them in rhinos with two grav cannons apiece and park them on objectives and dare my opponent to charge them. Remember they’re still just marines though, so don’t get too crazy with them. If your opponent has a lot of shooting make sure to get in his face with other units first so he doesn’t blow your gun-toting green guys off the board. Heavy bolters are also a decent choice if you don’t want them to be too expensive. I’d stray away from other weapon options though.

Dedicated Transports
Nothing to say here, other than including them for the sake of completeness. I’ve explained in each unit entry which transport I think is best for them, and if you’re taking a Lion’s Blade you’ll have a lot of them kicking around.

The clear winners here are Tactical and Devastator Squads. Both of them get a pretty big boost from Grim Resolve, and they can be kept cheap and still be a nuisance, unlike those of many other chapters. If you're looking to make use of Greenwing, those two are a good place to start.

This first part felt a little empty but I didn’t want to also try to cram elite and HQ choices in here. Those will be for next week and those are where Dark Angels start to get a little different.

Deathwing Tactics Part 3: Elites and Transports

Deathwing Tactics Part 3: Elites and Transports

The final part of my Deathwing tactics, where we look at Deathwing Terminators themselves. Thanks again for /u/Merendino for requesting this.

Before I analyze individual units, let me briefly talk about why terminators are so weak right now. The game as a whole has become much more deadly, and there is an abundance of low AP weapons, meaning that often the only defensive difference between a terminator and a scout is the terminator’s weak invulnerable save. Melee has also become unreliable, making the terminator’s weak ranged weapons and powerful melee weapons less of a benefit. Deep Striking is not very reliable, and terminators are slow, so they need to be placed well. Finally, in the age of formations most terminator formations aren’t very good, while their elite slot in a CAD is crowded. The Deathwing detachment alleviates a number of these problems and gives slightly better shooting, making Deathwing the only choice I’d go for if I wanted to use terminators in a tournament.

Deathwing Terminators
Thanks to the flexibility that the Deathwing Strike Force provides, regular Deathwing Terminators are probably the worst choice among the terminator-armored Dark Angels. The ability to mix and-matched loadouts is nice, but the Command Squad does the same and has the same weapon options, while the Deathwing Knights are better in melee against anything without a 2+ armor save. Unless you’re really loading up on terminators, leave these guys at home.

Deathwing Command Squad
The most flexible option, a Deathwing Command Squad should be part of any Deathwing army unless you’re just grabbing a squad or two of knights. The Command Squad has all of the same strengths and weaknesses of regular terminators, with the added bonuses of being able to take a very cheap apothecary and champion. It can be tempting to load them out to take on any threat, but mixed-weapons squads aren’t usually particularly useful, especially when they’re this expensive. I personally like to give them the champion and apothecary upgrades, grab an assault or plasma cannon, then grab 2-3 thunder hammer/storm shields and maybe a chain fist, for a squad that’s able to go toe-to-toe with most monstrous creatures.The banner is usually skippable, but it’s not a bad option, especially if you throw a character in there.

Deathwing Knights
I have definitely saved the best for last. These guys are the closest thing to good terminator units in the current competitive meta. They’re tough, crank up the toughness of characters who join them, and with just the addition of a chaplain have a good chance of bringing down a wraithknight in one turn of combat. Their bonus to toughness helps alleviate one of all terminator’s biggest issues, although they are still lacking in speed. Of all the Deathwing, they may benefit the most from footslogging, especially if you add Sammael for both Hit and Run and Rapid Manoeuvre. I’ve toyed with the idea of building a deathstar around these guys and while it remains untested, an Interrogator Chaplain, Sammael, and a Librarius Conclave could definitely bring the pain and be pretty tough as well.

Transports
Deep Striking works just fine for a Command Squad most of the time, especially in the Strike Force, while Knights can Deep Strike or walk, depending on the opponent’s army. Regardless of their loadout, treat Deathwing Terminators like melee units, because that’s where they excel, so keep them out of flying transports. Land Raiders are expensive but not an awful option, especially if you can protect them for a turn or two, while most superheavy transports aren’t assault vehicles. The Spartan Assault tank is worth a look for people who don’t mind spending a few extra points for a much tougher delivery vehicle.

Hope you guys enjoyed this tactica, and as always toss me any questions you have. A big thanks to /u/Merendino for requesting this as his reward for the painting competition.

Deathwing Tactics Part 2: HQ

Deathwing Tactics Part 2: HQ

Part 2 of my Deathwing tactics, as requested by the painting contest winner /u/Merendino.

The Deathwing have a number of pretty good options for their HQ choices. The most important decision is usually how to equip them and whether to put them with Deathwing Knights or a Command Squad.

Belial
If you played Deathwing in 6th edition or earlier you already own this guy, and while he is no longer mandatory to get those sweet troop choice terminators, he received a number of buff in this codex to make up for it. Like a lot of Dark Angels named characters, he got one of our worst warlord traits, but otherwise he has a lot of utility as both a beatstick and support character. Flawless deep striking makes him ideal for any Deathwing squad, as well as cramming into other imperial armies, and re-rolling hits in a challenge makes him relatively scary in combat. He’s a good choice, but his biggest flaw is that he’s always going to be stuck with that useless warlord trait and need to have another character come along to be warlord and hope to get Rapid Manoeuvre to make up for how slow terminators are. If you put him with Deathwing Knights, definitely give him a shield/hammer. It makes him much tougher to kill and combos well with the Knight Master striking at I4 but AP3. In a command squad his sword is fine to take advantage of his high initiative and the champion’s AP2 weapon.

Interrogator Chaplain
Probably the outright best choice for Deathwing, the Interrogator Chaplain has almost the statline of a Company Master, buffs his entire unit in melee, can take all of the good toys, and isn’t stuck with a bad warlord trait. Take the Mace of Redemption and a storm shield and he becomes an expensive but excellent force multiplier for Deathwing Knights. He can work ok with a Command Squad, but his potential is probably wasted there compared to with a unit of knights. There isn’t much else to say about him, just take him unless you have a very specific use for another character.

Librarian
A lot of the utility a Librarian gains while on a bike is unfortunately lost in terminator armor. The extra speed and point of toughness make a huge difference for the squishiest of the Deathwing, and the Interrogator Chaplain’s melee buffs are far more useful with terminators than with Black Knights. That being said, the Librarian is probably better suited to go with a Command Squad than Belial or an Interrogator Chaplain. Grab the Eye of the Unseen to buff both their melee and whatever ranged weapon you have in the unit, and the Librarian will benefit a lot from the Feel No Pain the apothecary provides. Like Belial, still a good choice for the Deathwing, but lacks the balls-out awesomeness of the Chaplain. Also can roll for his warlord trait which is big.

Ezekiel
Not in terminator armor, but Ezekiel is a decent choice to go with Deathwing who are footslogging or in a transport. Like the other named characters, Ezekiel is stuck with a crappy warlord trait, but his buff to attacks, good statline, and level 3 mastery make him worth more the more points you put into a unit. If you’re going to have another character to buff the unit (probably an Interrogator Chaplain) and hopefully get a more useful warlord trait, than Ezekiel is good for buffing the unit with things like rerollable saves or +1 toughness. I just wouldn’t take him unless you’ve already invested a fair amount in the unit.

Azrael and Asmodai
These are two other characters with the Deathwing rule that could potentially be used for a footslogging unit. Unfortunately, both of them end up being a lot of wasted points. Azrael’s 4+ invuln is wasted on Deathwing Knights and only a minor buff to a command squad, and while picking his warlord trait is good, Sammael is both cheaper and gives his unit Hit and Run as well if you need Rapid Manoeuvre. Asmodai is just generally overcosted and loses a lot of the options regular Interrogator Chaplains have, making neither of these guys very good options for Deathwing.

So the Interrogator Chaplain comes out as a clear winner thanks to melee buffs being far more important for the Deathwing, but Librarians, Belial, and Ezekiel all have their uses within a Deathwing army as well.

Next week I’ll wrap this up by going over the actual unit options for the Deathwing.

Deathwing Tactics Part 1: Rules and Detachments

Deathwing Tactics Part 1: Rules and Detachments

The prizes for the painting contest were that each of the winners got to request an article for the blog. Appropriately, /u/Merendino used his first-place Deathwing to request a Deathwing Tactics article. These next couple articles come courtesy of him.

I’m going to write these articles in the reverse order of how I wrote the Ravenwing tactics, starting with special rules and detachments and then moving to individual units. It’s worth noting that terminators as a whole are in a bad place, being slow, expensive melee units reliant on low toughness and a good armor save. However, a number of the bonuses Deathwing have help push them above other terminators, if not to tournament-playability then at least to useful units.

Deathwing
The titular rule actually provides very little to Deathwing terminators and Dark Angel special characters. Fearless is fairly redundant with their Ld 9/10 and Stubborn, and Hatred(CSM) doesn’t make up for the fact you’re going to want Hatred on their melee units anyways.

Split Fire
Both Deathwing Terminator and Command Squads get this rule, and it is excellent. Terminators have some pretty good ranged weapon choices, and being able to shoot them and then charge a different unit is great. It also combos well with the next rule.

Vengeful Strike
Another extra rule we got to justify the higher price tag on Deathwing terminators, twin linked ranged weapons on the turn you Deep Strike is good. It’s nothing amazing but it helps make that expensive heavy weapon worth it.

Deathwing Redemption Force
Our unique formation, and the only way to get Deathwing into a Lion’s Blade Detachment, this formation is not very good. When compared to the Deathwing Strike Force below, you are taking a mandatory two units of Deathwing terminators and giving up two HQ slots. In return, you get Preferred Enemy(CSM), can run and shoot or shoot and run on the turn you Deep Strike, and pick a turn before the game starts that all models in the Redemption Force will arrive. The second rule is shared by the Strike Force, the first rule is pretty useless (all you’re getting is rerolls to-wound of one and reroll hits of one after the turn you deep strike) and the third rule is patently worse than the Strike Force version. Unless you’re going for a fluffy army there is no reason to take this formation over a Strike Force.

Deathwing Strike Force
This, along with the Ravenwing Strike Force, was GW’s way of letting us play our old pure-terminator and pure-bike armies from the 6th edition codex. While you technically can’t do that with the Deathwing Strike Force thanks to all units starting in reserve, it’s a decent detachment and piles more rules onto the Deathwing to help make them useful. 1-3 HQ and 2-12 Elite choices, all must be terminators or venerable dreadnoughts. Seems appropriate, and puts it head and shoulders above the Redemption Force already by letting us take more of our best terminator units (HQ’s) and doesn’t make us pay a tax of basic terminators. For the rules, we get the run/shoot or shoot/run from the Redemption Force to make sure we don’t eat templates the following turn, re-roll warlord traits, and if our army also includes a Ravenwing Attack Squadron or Ravenwing Strike Force, each terminator unit can choose to pass or fail it’s reserve roll. While that last part may seem like a bit of a restriction, remember it’s impossible to run this detachment alone without tabling yourself, and Ravenwing bikes are all equipped with teleport homers. The synergy is both fluffy and crunchy, and makes this detachment head-and-shoulders above the Redemption Force.

Combined Arms/Allied Detachment
While this is still an option, I would almost always take the Deathwing Strike Force. The only time I would want to take Deathwing terminators in a CAD would be to start them on the board in a land raider or other transport. However, land raiders, like terminators themselves, aren’t in the best place right now and aren’t a great investment for carting around an expensive unit. Barring that situation, keep them in their specialty detachment.

With a pile of special rules, and a detachment that lets you take a bunch of the best units tax-free, Deathwing terminators definitely stand out above other faction’s terminators. While they share most of the weaknesses of other terminators, the extra buffs make them more capable offensively and a bit less vulnerable when Deep Striking. The Deathwing Strike Force is a clear winner in terms of how to get them into your list.

Next week, we’ll go over individual Deathwing units.

November Painting Contest Results

November Painting Contest Results

Thanks to everyone who participated in this awesome contest! We unfortunately didn't make our goal for entries, but I still have prizes for the winner and runner-up. But you guys are probably more interested in seeing those:

Runner-Up, /u/Redbaron67's Dark Talon:

This was the first entry to the competition, and set a high standard for everyone else. The extra work on the masonry is what put this above the competition and into second place. You can see the full gallery here.

First Place, /u/Merendino's Terminators and Land Raider:

I got a few beautiful terminator entries, but it was the icon on the land raider that sold this one for me. The extra conversion work on the gunner was also something I really liked. You can see the full gallery here.

I hope everyone who participated had fun working on their entries, and congratulations to our two winners. While we didn't reach our entry goal to get a free copy of Deathwing as the grand prize, I do have some smaller prizes to give out to our winners. I enjoyed doing this and may revisit this idea in a few months, probably with a lower goal for entries for a grand prize. Thanks for reading!

All Lists Do Not Have to be "All-Comers"

All Lists Do Not Have to be "All-Comers"

There’s a lot of common misconceptions about tournament lists that I’d like to take some time to talk about.

I have a lot of people who ask me for tournament advice get upset when I tell them about their list’s bad matchups. People seem to be holding onto this notion that just about any list can and should be capable of taking on any potential list you will play at a tournament. I’d like to talk about why this is impossible, impractical, and not a bad thing. Before I continue, I’d like to include a disclaimer: There is no unwinnable game. Even the worst matchups can be won if you’re just a flat out better player than the other guy, but a lot of what I say is going to be based around the assumption the players are close to the same skill level, unless otherwise specified.

First, there are “all-comers” lists in the current competitive meta. Lists that still have a decent chance to win in their worst matchups. These are the S-tier lists, Eldar Scatterbikes, Battle Company, and Incursion. There’s some variations on these but the ones you see sweeping a lot of tournaments are all lists that have pretty much entirely good to bad matchups, with no terrible ones.

If that’s true, why ever play another army? Shouldn’t we all just play those lists until something comes in to smash up the meta (hello, 5th edition). No, we shouldn’t. One thing about those S-tier lists is that they are pretty hard to pilot. Plenty of people have seen their local powergamer running one of those “netlists” and crushing some hapless newbie, but a lot of those guys don’t put up good (or consistent) results in tournaments. The reason you see those kinds of lists dominating tournaments is because those are the top players playing the top lists. S-Tier lists have an incredibly high skill ceiling, and when combined with no truly bad matchups, in the hands of a great player they will win.

This isn’t to say less-skilled players can’t do good things with those lists, but they will need practice and will find themselves struggling to max out their wins. So if you don’t want to run an S-Tier list, or are new to the tournament scene and don’t want to try to get your feet wet with an army that’s hard to pilot, you want what I usually call a Spoiler List. While these lists are ideal for newer or less skilled players, there have been great examples of spoiler lists performing well and even winning large events, such as Sean Nayden’s infamous Tyranids list.

Spoiler lists operate on the principle of “win big, or not at all”. Instead of trying to make these lists capable of taking on any enemy army, you make them very good against certain armies, while understanding that your bad matchups are pretty much always going to be a loss (barring amazing dice or a bad opponent). These lists often operate on the concept of taking a lot of a very good unit, or bringing only one type of unit to deny a lot of your opponent’s threats. Two good examples are my NOVA list and the list I played against last tournament with 5 riptides and 2 knights. My ravenwing list was incredibly resilient to shooting attacks that didn’t ignore cover meaning a lot of my opponent’s shooting would be wasted on them. However, the low model count meant I had a weakness to being drowned in bodies, so armies like Incursion or Battle Company gave me a hard time. Meanwhile, that riptide/knight list obviously shrugged off most shooting, and was capable of quickly removing units that threatened the knights and riptides, but was susceptible to being bogged down and swept by many smaller melee units, like my Orks.

Spoiler lists are great if you have a good idea of what kind of armies you will be facing going into a tournament, and also let you get into tournaments with a list that has a solid “comfort zone” of armies they will beat reliably. If you want to try a spoiler list, either pick a certain type of army you’d like to beat (probably one of those S-Tier lists) or pick a type of unit you’d like to take a lot of. Vehicles may not be the best, but an all-tank Imperial Guard army would certainly give some armies a hard time, or building a dark eldar list specifically designed to mess up daemons (usually with some eldar/corsairs allied in). I’ve seen both of these armies used well and put up good tournament results thanks to maxing out their wins.

I hope this gives you guys a little insight on list building and why it’s ok to bring lists that aren’t S-Tier. Painting Competition closes December 6th by the way. Send me those entries on reddit or by email!