Goatboy’s 40K: Psychic Awakening – Reviewing the Dark Angels
Goatboy here again with the 2nd part to my Psychic Awakening review. Let us talk about the Dark Angels and how I think this codex update might be scary for the new Marine overlords.
Their tweaks put them in line with the Blood Angels updates and brings this army more within the confines of the Nu Marine way. As is usual I will review each section by going over a few things I like and maybe something I find terrible. I will give it a review of between 1 and 5 Wingnut Helmets with 1 being bad and the 5 being wicked awesome. This update is bigger than the Grey Knight one so I got a few more things to chatter on about.
Master Lazarus
To begin will start with the new Model add on with the first named Primaris Character marine. Master Lazarus is a pretty boss looking model – especially since you can build him into something other than the special character. His rules are decent as he feels like an Azrael style model with a cool Aura that gives Dark Angels a 5+ FNP for Mortal wounds. It isn’t an Invulnerable save but it is still something neat. He also has a built in auto fight back if he dies in combat feature. Stack this onto a beefy body with a decent sword, a nice amount of attacks, and he is a captain/master too. The rest of the units matches the Blood Angels update with reworked data slates to match the new Marine rules as well as the add ons for all the new Shadowspear stuff. The chaplains all got updated too with Litanies as well like Asmodai.
Overall it is a simple update meant to bring Dark Angels in line with the other Marine options.
I give it a 3 out of 5 Wingnut helmets as the new Character is neat and just having everything the same helps them out.
New Doctrine
Next up we got the new “Doctrine” like ability called the Relentless Hunt. It activates in the Devastator Doctrine (ding ding on why this could be strong) and gives Heavy and Rapid Fire weapons an extra 6″ of range and then Pistol and Assault Weapons get an extra 3″ of range. On top of the Grim Resolve ability to reroll hits of 1 as long as they didn’t move and you start to see some mean stuff with this and those Plasma totting Hellblasters. 36″ range guns starts to get spicy when they don’t move and throw out 2 shots apiece. This could be a very crazy set of rules when you combo some of the other stuff. Speeders and bikes start to get scary as well. Heck those Terminators can walk around throwing out shots a 30 inches now meaning you can’t truly hide on the table top.
This is where the Dark Angels might shine as I give this ability a 4 out of 4 Wingnut helmets.
Out ranging Marines will be a thing as these guys can dance away from your opponent. Just starting out ready to go is a huge thing for this Marine army and might turn them into a Marine killer.
Stratagems
We have Stratagems next with 3 extra pages of them. Again they added a ton of Marine stuff to them that boost up their Bolters. Veteran Intercessors, Boltstorm, Rapid Fire, and Transhuman Physiology are some of the added on basic Marine powers. Interestingly enough – they didn’t update Honour the Chapter so the Dark Angels version still lets you attack again even if you are outside of an inch from a unit. This is something to remember as it appears Blood Angels are not changed as well (maybe we see FAQ’s at some point or something saying you use the new ones from Marines).
The strats feel ok and not nearly as overpowering as some of the other armies. They got the ones to make their units stronger so that is good. I think there is some serious set up to do some bolter damage with the Doctrine active and a few Strats going off. We all know how powerful flat damage 2 Plasma can be so that will be something as well.
Looking at a 3 out of 5 Wingnut helmets as they are good building blocks to the newest Marine army on the block.
Vanguard Units
Next up the Dark Angels got all the Vanguard extra rules. This is neat as it gives them more options for the army. If we see more Phobos options coming it could be interesting time but for right now will just leave this as a 3 out of 5 Wingding Helmets. It’s cool they got them as it gives some interesting options to the book with Phobos units pushing enemies back and more units you can paint dark green.
The Dark Angels got 6 new Warlord traits with 3 for Deathwing and 3 for Ravenguard. The Deathwing have an interesting one in an auto Deny option once per battle. This could be useful if you know you need to stop one thing and a quick Warlord Trait grab from the added Stratagem. The Ravenguard ones are much better as they have 2 powerful ones. Impeccable Mobility lets the Warlord and all RG units within 6″ of him ignore the penalty to move and fire Heavy weapons or Advancing and firing Assault Weapons. This is huge as you can turn in a plethora of Talon Masters and speeders into a terrifying force of bullet hell. The Outrider trait also lets you move the Warlord and another RG unit 12″ as long as you stay up to 9″ away from the Enemy. This could be huge for the cheaper Black Knights pushing forward and causing all kinds of problems. I could see some nutty stuff using the Advance and moving options with some Plasma Assault Black Knights.
The two RG warlord traits make this a powerful set of rules with 4 out of 5 WingaDoo Helmets.
I think these rules will help create a really annoyingly fast force of Plasma death for your Opponents.
Relics
Next will take about Relics. They get the normal set of Successor options as well as 6 new ones. The Successor gets a new Bolt to shot that can do some mean damage to someone. The Phobos Captain could be mean with a flat 3 damage weapon that wounds a non vehicle/monster on a 2+. The successor’s also get an Aura booster as well – so that could be a fun thing as well. There is a new Deathwing 5+ FNP aura option for the DW ancients. There is also a cool banner for the Ravenwing Ancient that adds a +1 to charges and Advances.
The relics are not bad – just not crazy. I think again the RG ones has their uses as you can start to stack movement options and get some very quick beat sticks into your opponents lines.
3 out of 5 Winged Things for the Goat.
REPENT!
Litanies
Finally the Dark Angels get some Litanies to use. They match the Marine ones with one additional one that grants a Dark Angels Infantry the ability to shoot with ranged weapons as is they didn’t move. Not to bad and again could be powerful if you combo it with some strats and other options.
I like the Litanies as they are powerful but going off on a 3+ without any way to modify it beyond a reroll is a harsh thing to try and play for. I just always worry you will fail and lose out badly when you are relying on it. 3 out of 5 GoldenWings.
I think the Dark Angels update is pretty good and as you can tell I think it pushes a Ravenguard agenda throughout the update. The bikes feel like they could be powerful especially mixed in with being able to Advance and shoot without penalties. We’ll see if this is the case but my old crazy thoughts on Talonmaster armies might be good.
~Do you think the rules are good enough to start being the Dark Angels onto the tabletop in numbers?
