TACTICA DARK ANGELS By Marcos Fernandez ( Smoking Frog ) |
This article has been reproduced with kind permission from the author. It's use here is not intended as a challenge to the original authors copyright and is reproduced here for the sole purpose of enhancing the Dark Angel spirit and the warhammer 40,000 experience |
COLLECTING YOUR OWN ARMY Dark Angels are in my own opinion the best Space Marine army available. They are green, they have two specialised companies, they have rules which enhance their staying power. They will never fall back, not even from combat, due to the "And they shall know no fear" rule. Have I mentioned they're green? Plus, they have their own wargear, which is predominantly funky and geared to giving them Victory Points. So how would you assemble an army with the information I just gave you in the many pages before? Let me help you out. This list is for a Dark Angels Battle Company Force (that is, either the 3rd, 4th or 5th Battle Company) in the 4th edition of Warhammer 40000. If you want information on assembling a Deathwing or Ravenwing force, you may have to wait for new Tacticas to come out for the 4th Edition, or use the current ones, which are still very handy. First of all, lets take a look at the Standard Missions Organisation Chart. You need one HQ choice and two TROOPS choices. If you haven't got a rule book and you are new to the hobby, consider buying the "Battle for Macragge" box. In it you get the equivalent of a tactical squad, and some Tyranids to practice against. You also get a condensed version of the rule book, some terrain, dice, measuring rulers, and a campaign booklet which allows you to get familiar with the game and its mechanics. Costing about the same as the full rule book, it is a serious bargain. If you have bought the "Battle for Macragge" box, then you only need to buy one more Tactical squad. If you don't purchase that box, then you must buy two tactical squads. Also, buy the new plastic Commander box. It is a great box for your HQ choice, since you can arm him with any weapon of your choice. What's more, it will produce many spare parts which you can use for conversions for later projects. Take a good look at the sprues. Look at the parts, and imagine how your marines will be armed. Take a good look at the options in the Space Marine codex, and also the Dark Angels mini-dex (at the time this was written, there was no stand-alone Dark Angels Codex). Look at all the options, and think of how you can arm the Tactical Squads, and the Commander. Your best options, at this point in time, is to arm the Tactical Squads with plasma guns and/or flamers, with missile launchers. Simply because this way you can take on most forces. You have missile launchers, capable of taking out any armour around or capable of dealing with masses of infantry (krak and frag missiles) and the plasma gun is a great special weapon to have to support your troops with bolters by providing strong rapid fire support. A flamer is better for really close up support, since it uses the flame template. Note it can't fire much further so include the flamer only if you're planning on getting very close to the enemy. The bolter marines will be capable of firing twice, even if they move, up to 12" (same with the plasma gun) so they are great weapons by in large. They will fire once up to 24", so can provide your tactical squad with strong suppressive fire. A great squad to have. Your commander can be armed any way you deem necessary. My advice is arming him with a bolt pistol and the power sword. This is a cheap and inexpensive way of making him close combat effective. Also, later on you can call the power sword a "Sword of Secrets", a special Dark Angels power weapon which raises the strength of the wielder. Very effective and very dangerous in close combat. However, you can arm him with anything you wish, lightning claws and power fists being quite popular, and combi-weapons being effective shooting weapons. This one is purely your choice. Read the codex for details on how each weapon works, read the rule book as well, and decide for yourself. Now, you have both options, and after you paint them both up (which should be notoriously simple) you can go out to expand on your army. Lets try to make it simple, first, by having it as an all-infantry army. I assume that since you're in this hobby, you've got a fair amount of money to spend, so here are your next purchases; one Devastator Squad, one lascannon marine blister pack, a Space Marine Battle Force, 2 Space Marine Assault Squads. The great thing about the Dark Angels is that you can buy standard marines and they will still look normal. If, however, you want to add a "Dark Angelesque" look to your army, do yourself a favour by purchasing the Dark Angels Veteran Blister pack. This way you can replace the sergeants of your tactical squads with these robed Marines. Better yet, if you're feeling brave, use these guys as your command squad, by attaching all the necessary components from the Space Marine Battle Force, which includes a Command Squad. This is how you'll organise this. Notice how the Devastator Squad has one of each heavy weapon. That's not a very effective way of arming a Devastator squad, which is why we bought the other boxes and blisters. Replace the plasma cannon marine with the lascannon marine, and replace the heavy bolter marine with the missile launcher in the tactical squad from the Battle Force. Add the combat squad to the Devastator squad, and there you have it, a full Devastator squad, with effective anti-tank weapons, and because you have it to full strength, you have the option of including the bolter marines to act as "meat shields", to take damage for your heavy weapons, and to have an edge against any enemy squad that is threatening them. The tactical squad in the Battle Force is a nice addition, especially if you arm it with one of the two spare heavy weapons from the Devastator box. Give it a plasma gun in addition to the heavy bolter/plasma cannon and you have a tactical squad suited to taking out infantry. The Command Squad and Razorback left in the Battle Force box are an addition to the Commander that you bought much earlier. The command squad are there to accompany your leader, and the Razorback is there to deliver your dangerous squad to the enemy closer. Arm everyone with their special gear, and if you bought those Dark Angels Veteran blisters, use them for the body of troops in the Command Squad. After all, we are Dark Angels, let there be some distinction between us and the rest. Last of all, those two Assault Squads are best used as one full squad. Arm them with plasma pistols, and if you wish, upgrade the sergeant to a Veteran, and arm him with any of the extra weapons, preferably the power fist and combat shield, like on the picture on the box. Now, you should have an impressive army, capable of taking on anyone and anything. It has a fair balance of foot-slogging troops to those that have jump packs or transports. Additional purchases may include models such as Ravenwing Bikes or Land Speeders, Rhinos and Predators. These are to enhance further the speed capabilities of your army. If you prefer to grind your enemies to dust from afar, some Vindicators, Whirlwinds, Predator Annihilators armed only with lascannons and Deathwing Terminators make excellent additions too. Alternatively, try a bit of both, keeping your army more or less balanced. Also, you may have noticed that I have not mentioned the Scout Squad. In my opinion, this squad if very handy when equipped with sniper rifles or when missions have the Infiltrate rule active. They aren't very good main line troops, however. Scouts are also viable as an expansion option. I have to agree that while this army doesn't seem very "Dark Angelesque" at first, you must remember that when all things are considered, Dark Angels are actually a fairly codex chapter, or at least they are at the moment. With the exception of their special rules, and their differences in the 1st and 2nd Company structure, and of course the Inner Circle, there is very little else that makes the Dark Angels different to standard codex chapters. However, with the Dark Angels, you will be more tempted to use "shooty" units, and more infantry than you'd normally take in a Space Marine army, which seems to define what the Dark Angels are about. Last of all, if you are new to the game and can't tell the difference between a Plasma Cannon and a Multimelta, the best thing to do is ask an experienced player what each weapon is, or even the staff at your local Games Workshop. If you ever have any questions about anything, by all means ask! Most gamers are fairly friendly folk, but as in all things in life, you will find the occasional shark. Don't be dissuaded by them. This hobby is a fun one, and take my advice with a grain of salt. This ends my segment on collecting the army, now onto some tactics. I'll cover some general tactics and theories you may find helpful with your Dark Angels. |
TACTICA BATTLE FORCE |
