Warhammer 40K Meta Hotness: Deathwing Terminator Squads

The current new “anvil” unit in 40k is the Deathwing (Free Upgrades 4 life!) Terminator squads.  You ready to get wrecked again by Storm Shield jerks like its 2021?

Welcome to the new Marine meta – the champions of easy scoring mixed with tough-as-nails units seems to be the Dark Angels. Especially since they have a unit that doesn’t care about the current doctrine mixed with options that love the first one you have to be in. Deathwing Terminator Squads are the current new hotness coming out of the Arks of Omen update and the sheer discount Marine dump we had with the points update.  Who would have thought making upgrades free for every Marine unit would have caused problems?  Oh, it is only a problem for units that have extra rules on top of just the regular Marine rules.  Oh I get it – my bad.

Obviously, the Dark Angels were one of those armies that were powerful when first introduced in their updated form but went to the wayside as other Codexes and Marine options just ended up shooting you a heck of a lot better.  A mixture of powerful “defensive” abilities that are always on mixed with powerful secondaries means a ton of foot walking Jerks can easily skew an event.  Especially events that have a ton of terrain to easily hide giant armored squads.

Deathwing Terminators 101

Dark Angel Terminators have all the normal  Terminator options – 3 wounds, 2+ armor, invulnerable save, and cool options – plus the added-on bump of being an Inner Circle Marine.  This grants them the only being wounded on a 4+ – aka Transhuman, as the cool kids say.  On top of that, they automatically pass Morale and really hate the Fallen.  Oh, they also get Objective Secured too. So we have giant units of armored jerks who are a pain in the butt to get wounds to stick to.

Other Deathwing Terminator Benefits!

Remember how Marines got massive point drops and free upgrades?  Well, these models got this too. So they went to a brutally efficient unit that you don’t want to mess with.  Do you want a ton of hammers hitting you in the face?  Well, you better not get close.  The footprint for this unit is so big as well. Then add the fact they show up in 10 man units it makes it really hard to just “remove” Deathwing Terminators off the table.  Normally you can kill 5+, but if any survive, they can easily shift behind a building/crate/wall and chill out for the game.

They Have Decent Anti-tank Weapons

Did I hear you like free Cyclone Missile Launchers?  So instead of just being foot-slogging jerks they can throw out missiles as needed downfield.  It might not always do you well – but when it hits and wounds it can be brutal.  Plus, they can shoot frag missiles too. Just 4d6 shots hitting a unit with an extra -1 AP can be brutal as you stare down a ton of walking armored suits of death.

Sample List

Mani punched his ticket to the GW Atlanta event with a win at the Beachhead Brawl in England – a 129 player, 6 round event that took place last weekend.  He took on another Dark Angels army in the final, and while it wasn’t a direct mirror match up with Mani having more Terminators – it still showcased the new Meta pretty well where our bone-armored Termaniators are going to run all over the battlefield.

Deathwing Terminator Squad [18 PL, 330pts]: Watcher in the Dark
. Deathwing Sergeant
. . Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
2x . Deathwing Terminator
. . Cyclone Missile Launcher, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield
7x . Deathwing Terminator
. . Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield

Deathwing Terminators Armylist Tips & Tricks

Having 15 hard-to-kill models on the table mixed with very fast-moving shooting options is obviously a very powerful combination.  The idea of an anvil unit in 40k isn’t new – this is just the current “best” one in the game.  Heck, it is very similar to how Chaos Space Marines used to use their Terminators to anchor their army down and just control the middle of the board.  The Dark Angels do it better with the added benefit of having a very powerful set of secondaries. With these, they can easily score their points, control the primary, and just wreck the meta like they expected them to.  We’ll see if Astra Miliatrum come strong as people get the army built and oodles of Mortal wound-spamming Karsikans out on the tabletops.

For the Lion!

Author: Thomas / Goatboy

Thomas Reidy, aka Goatboy, the ever-evil member of BoLS. I do arts, play 40k, and even paint a lot of stuff. I have been playing Warhammer 40K since the 1990s, and have won multiple national events including Adepticon and GW GTs. I've been writing for BoLS for 15 years. Look at my Instagram to see what I am working on - or working on for someone. I am always doing something hobby related.