Dark Angel units- Wintercon list review

Today i'm putting up some throughts I've had regarding the units I fielded for Wintercon, weighing up the pros and cons. Im thinking of using some of this list as a basis for a 1500pt force for ANUCON in late September.

Belial
Belial was instrumental in allowing me to put various DW units where I needed (deepstrike without scatter), mainly to allow for maximum shooting damage and also to threaten units that may wish to charge them. He never got a successful enemy Warlord kill, as he was taken out by a Great Unclean One and Kharn (both out of his league), and in all other games was simply brought down through weight of fire. However his main benefit was making the three DW units ‘troops’, and for his points cost he’s definitely worth taking.

Fire-support Dreadnoughts
The missile and twinlinked autocannon/ lascannon dreads were great for sitting at 48” range and throwing anti-armour shots out, I had a few games where they out-ranged their opponents and survived the entire game (pre-measuring rocks). Both are very effective for their points, and the number of shots/twinlinking allowed them to land quite a few snap-shots at Flyers (a Stormraven was their biggest flyer kill). I will definitely try keeping these guys in my 1850 lists, they are great to use.

Deathwing- shooty
These two squads racked up more kills than all the rest of the army combined, due in no small part to their ability to Deepstrike in and have twinlinked shooting- the Plasma Cannon is now my favourite DW heavy weapon. They almost always ended up in close combat and with Termy armour/ pfists they acquitted themselves well. For the next tourney (possibly ANUCON) I might subsume a couple of TH/SS termies into each shooting DW squad (end up with 7 or 8 per unit) to give some dedicated MC defense/offense and to tank the big hits.  

Deathwing- TH/SS
These guys actually spent a few games deployed on the ground in front of key units as a barrier against fast-closing assault units, or were used to run forwards to join the deepstriking DW shooty units as a counter-attack punch once those guys had engaged a nasty target unit. As expected they took a load of punishment, and only ever died under a huge number of shooting or close combat attacks. As mentioned above, may just absorb these minis into the two shooty DW units- one to enter with Belial (no scatter) and one to land independently and form another bulwark/strongpoint. However, another thought for certain games is to deploy them facing the biggest/fastest threat with Belial in their midst, advancing forwards tanking the hits, and then deepstrike in the other two ‘shooty’ DW units on turn one or two (depending on circumstance) within 6”- Belial’s teleport homer will let them land without scatter, suddenly tripling the amount of Deathwing in that area- possibly good for wrong footing the opposition or dominating a flank. 

Sniper Scouts
The snipers were excellent for a measly 70 points, which included their camo cloaks- most of the time they had a 3+ cover save meaning they had awesome survivability, and the Vet Sgt kept them in the game with his Ld9. Although they landed a heap of shots, they never achieved any Rends or Pinned any units, but were able to draw a heap of fire and took some objectives in a few games. For their points cost they’re great, although I’m thinking of chucking in a Missile Launcher for some extra sting with harassing units- for example a frag missile against MEQs is wounding on the same roll (4+) as a single sniper shot, so for an extra 10 points I could be getting four or more shots with a frag blast, and even when accounting for Rending the frag is statistically better at causing casualties. Something to playtest I think.

Tactical Squad
Not much to say here, except that the new Stubborn rule kept my boys in the game many many times- none of the non-DW units (ie not Inner Circle) broke, ever. This allowed me to stay on the board and in a few cases I was able to deny VPs to my opponent where the units still had a couple of guys left at the end of the game.
The heavy bolter I took was fairly useless in most cases, I feel paying the extra points for a Plasma Cannon would have been a much better idea, although the Flamer was good- I assaulted some Khorne Bezerkers (honestly, it was better than being charged by them!) and I got 8 hits on my way in, flamers are awesome!!

Black Knights
Wow!!! With only three of these guys (126pts) I did some major damage coming on with Outflank. Skilled rider meant ignoring difficult terrain and one point better cover/jink save (4+ normal, 3+ turboboosting) which gave them incredible survivability, I survived high strength pie plates and heavy weapons fire and almost every time was able to get off a Rad grenade hit on the target unit. Knocking a point of Toughness from enemy units wasn’t ever really doing any difference when they fired with their Plasma Talons, (still 2+ to wound most of the time) but it certainly helped when I had the Dark Talon attacking in tandem, or sending fire from the Devs or Dreads- I took out a host of T5 multi wound Spawn like this- drop them to T5 and hammer in the Str8+ fire for instant death…. I am still thinking that it would be a smart idea to upgrade the Huntsmaster to have a power weapon (sword) as the Corvus Hammer’s Rending just isn’t dependable enough. However, the ability to hit-and-run (and T5) does mean you can engage 3+ armour and run off (through cover) 2D6 inches once you’re done to keep the bikes alive.    
   
Im hoping to pick up another box set of RW BK’s and flesh it out to five or six bikes for maximum plasma carnage, and also to boost up their close combat capability. 

Dark Talon
I did a lot of Internet searching before deciding whether to build a Dark Talon or Nephilim from my boxed set, and can happily say that IMHO i've made the right choice. The DT puts out magnificent ground-support firepower from its Hurricane Bolters and can easily de-buff enemy units with its ability to blind (Rift Cannon) or impose a -3 on both WS and Initiative with the Stasis Bomb. Being a flyer means that in a lot of cases you have the speed to always be in rapid fire range for the bolters- 12 re-rollable Str4 shots can mow down light infantry and even make a mess of MEQ targets. In this tourney I ran it in tandem with my Black Knights- coming in from outflank they used their grenade launcher to lower enemy toughness (and get their Plas shots off) and the DT would then unload with its armament and in most cases finish the job. These two units work brilliantly together, and even though I believe one could be taken without the other i'd be hesitant to do so- they compliment each other very well.

Although the DT does have the ability to hover I've never used it, although it is a useful ability if I need to plot a flight course that may end up taking it off a table edge (which in some games could mean its counted as destroyed for VPs if the game ends), however this is also subject to the army I'm facing and their AA capability. A good idea might be to run it into a far back corner mid game, and then hover in the next turn with a 180 degree pivot before coming back across the board for another two-turn strafing/bombing run- this may be useful against Nids or other armies with low AA abilities.

As its a support craft for attacking ground troops it works well, as mainly second-turn arrivals mean its within range of targets that my ground forces should be just about to assault (esp. where DW have deep-striked in turn one). So far, very happy with how this has turned out.
  

Devastators
Not surprisingly the Devs drew some serious firepower from my opponents in all games, the only way I could guarantee their safety was to take shelter in ruins or out of range of opposing fire. I used them twice to literally stall enemy flank movements- whilst the enemy armour did advance it did so very slowly, trying to hug cover and take as little damage as possible.
In conjunction with the Dreads the Devastators threw up loads of Krak Missiles trying to knock enemy flyers from the sky, and in one game they landed 3 hits which all penetrated, however my opponent was able to safely jink each one! Im thinking that it might be worthwhile to spend the points and buy some Flakk Missiles (60pts for all four launchers) as this would allow me to tackle flyers and free up one or both of the Dreads to continue harassing ground forces. Only problem is that Flakks don’t give you the Interceptor rule, so you have to weather a turn of fire before getting shots off.

Will be definitely playtesting this setup to see how good it is for the points, which are starting to get quite expensive. While I don’t think they’ll in any way fix my Helldrake woes they’ll definitely provide a foil for the flyers of most other armies. 

So, do you agree with my thoughts, or have anything else to add? So far im happy with the way the Dark Angels play under the new codex, and the new units seem to work togehter well.

Cheers,
Temp

BA Librarian update and paint-range musings..

A short update today, as I'm flat out with work...

I've gone a bit crazy with purchases for this BA project, and have recently bought a whole bunch of the new range of GW paints (can we still call them new??), specifically the complete sets of blues I needed for the two Librarians I'll be running, from the dark basecoat through the the topmost highlight, including a wash and glaze as well- 6 pots in total. Im not a fan of mixing colours, so for me just purchasing all the required shades is best, and the glazes seem to tie all the differing colours together. I understand this is not the approach when you're chasing painting awards but consistency across the entire army is my main focus, to that end I wont blend or mix anything.

The stash so far- I am still using older washes like Devlan and Badab, as you'll never know if i swap to the later versions, as their uses in this army are a lot more subtle. I've also continued to use the Boltgun Metal I bought only a few months prior, I havent seen any reason to swap out to Leadbealcher as they look identical to me...

 And here's the Librarian after a quick Caledor Sky coat. I've also added a few test sections of Teclis Blue for minor highlights, with Lothern Blue to go on for the final 'reflective' highlighting on the uppermost raised sections.

Once his greenstuffed foot pedestal is painted up to match his base he'll really look even better. But happy with the results so far.

Mephiston Red- aka 'Hotrod Red'- new paint review

Went for a small trip to GW yesterday to pick up the latest White Dwarf, hoping for some Dark Angel hints, and after a quick flick through Im only seeing possibly hints of an Ork-related happening on 2 June? It could be a new Codex (the last one was a while back?) or some sort of Ork-themed party at GW- there's a full single page and double page spread regarding this, but with very minimal information. So who knows whats really happening? To be honest, i'd like to see some more Orkish goodness- I still dont think I have enough Deathskulls (roughly 3200pts straight WYSIWYG so far, including Stompa), and even if the base mechanics of them dont change then at least some new models or units would be nice.

However, I digress- where this is going is that without any tangible evidence concerning the boys of the First Legion at this time I'm feeling less inclined to put brush to mini to finish my two Tactical and one Devastator squads. Not that I dont love them, but I feel that variety is the spice of life. I spent a good 15 minutes of so discussing the new paint range with the staff, as well as giving the "base" (Foundations) and Dry paints a spin, and so far everything i've seen has been fantastic. Ceramite White has exceptional coverage over black, I think i'll be getting some of this to clean up my DA tank chapter symbols, and the myriad greens available in the 'layers' (ie normal paint) section makes me warm and fuzzy on the inside as a Dark Angel and Ork player.

However the colour that drew my attention the most was the replacement for Mechrite Red, most appropriately called 'Mephiston Red' after the Blood Angel's Chief Librarian (know on the Internetz as 'Space Dracula'). It seems that GW has realised that the main reason for Mechrite's use is to paint up vibrant red power armour, so this Base colour is now a lot closer to the old superceded Blood Red (now replaced with the very close Wild Rider Red- like Blood Red, with some orange thrown in). So I bought a pot of Mephiston Red, and decided to re-base coat my Stormraven Gunship which had previously been given a 50% coverage of Mechrite. And it turned out to be very, very interesting. Here's how its sitting after a coat of the new paint.  



Tony Stark: "Tell you what. Throw a little hotrod red in there".
Jarvis: "Yes, that should help you keep a low profile".



Now I dont want to speak ill of the dead, but im glad Mechrite is no more. Although it had phenomenal coverage, I always found the colour to be very muted and dull, a view that the GW staff shared with me. The main issue that stems from this is that in order to paint up a Blood Angels, Saim Hann Eldar or Evil Sunz Ork army one had to put down a base of Mechrite that was basically just going to end up being 95% or more covered by a lighter and brighter red. This basically meant that for all the wondeful time savings of the Foundation paint- quick to apply, great coverage etc- you were eventually going to go back over the mini again with another coat to bring up the red. In my opinion its heaps easier to throw down a brighter base colour and spend 30 seconds applying a Shade (Wash) to change the base colour. Dull down in 30 seconds and get natural shading with a Shade, vs apply a brighter colour which could take 10+ minutes on a marine? I know which i'd prefer.

The other issue I had with Mechrite (and a lot of the Foundations) was grainyness- most likely due to the higher amount of pigment- even when applied watered down a touch the finish seemed grainy and textured. Oh well, as I said: Mechrite is gone. So with that, how does Mephiston Red perform?



'Cant say im sorry to see it go. Meph Red is dynamite IMO.



Really well as it would seem. The paint consistency in the pot appears thinner than the prior Foundations, which partially goes to explain why it doesnt do a 100% coverage on black straight up, however a second pass completely covers and the colour comes right out. I was also very happy to see that the colour pops out enough without being that eye-searing 'Early 90s GW red'*, I can also see my entire Blood Angels army being based in this scheme. The current GW Blood Angels painting Recommendation is Mephiston Red (Base)> Carroburg Crimson (Shade)> Edge Highlight-Evil Sun Scarlet (Layer)> Highlight- Wild Rider Red (Layer). I think i'll be playing around with all these colours to determine the best scheme for me, but either way I'm hoping to get something that 'pops' on the tabletop.  

So, until my beloved First Legion gets a new book I'm going to be painting red, red and more red- a change is as good as a holiday, and I like the look and feel of the BA Codex so they'll be getting a look in on the tabletop. And while im on this very tack, here's my most recent Sanguinary Guard paintup- i've decided against the NMM look for a true-metallic + shades (washes!) combo- they'll end up with some gold highlights on this to bring the bling back up. This takes about 4 layers to achieve, vs the 15+ for the NMM gold... 

Inconspicuous?

*And yes, I am that old...