Scouts

I'll admit to seriously hesitating on taking a squad of Scouts as one of my Elites options.
Infiltrate and Sniper Rifles, though. I love me some Infiltrate.

So, here is the 10 man squad.




























Scouts also have the Combat Squads rule just like the Tactical Squads, and I intend on using that. You'll notice that 5 of my Scouts have heavy weapons, and the other 5 are equipped for combat. The reason for this is that since they're infiltrated I'm expecting my opponent to move some of his forces to take them out. That's where the combat half come into play. By having them intercept any incoming forces, I free up the 5-man heavy weapons squad to continue firing. The 5-man combat squad should be able to last until the rest of my forces catch up.

For my other two Elites options, I'm taking a squad of Terminators and a Venerable Dreadnought. When they're painted up, I'll post pics.

Heavy Support

I already know a lot of Space Marine players will probably give me flak for not taking a Land Raider as a Heavy Support option in my Dark Angels army.

Whatever. While I have seen them used effectively, I've also seen a predictable trend when faced with a decent opponent: Land Raiders are large cost-heavy bullseyes. Sure the 14 AC is great, but I've still seen it get popped like a balloon.

It costs a lot, and I'd rather spend those points in things that don't make my opponent want to focus firepower as much.

So, I planned on two Devastator Squads and a Predator Annihilator.

With two of these squads, I've got quite a bit of firepower for not too much in points cost. They're also much more inconspicuous than any tank.

There's the Predator. Much more conspicuous than the Devastator Squads, for sure... especially with my 'hey, look at me!' paint-job, but it's still not as much of a target as a Land Raider would be.

For the most part, I go into a game assuming that my opponent will by aiming for my tank. I haven't invested too many points into it, plus any fire that it takes is fire that's not being directed at the Devastator Squads ... which pack more of a punch in each squad than the tank does. All in all, it's a worthy tactic ... and hopefully the Predator takes out some choice targets before getting turned into shrapnel.

Troops

With Dark Angels, your troops choices are limited to Tactical Squads.














That's ok, though. Customizing a Tactical squad for your personal needs is super easy. Especially due to the 'Combat Squads' rule.
Basically, this rule means that at any time during a game, I can split the Tactical squad into two 5-man squads. Doesn't sound like much, but it can be pretty useful. Imagine giving your veteran sergeant a pistol/melee weapon, as in the pic above. Now, I also want a Plasma Cannon for some added punch. Now comes the question of "Are you getting the most out of your equipment choices?" By equipping some with assault-oriented weapons, and some with Heavy weapons that restrict move-and-fire options... you cut the efficiency of your squad.
Well, the easy answer to that is to break the squad up into two combat squads. Have the Heavy weapon chill out with 4 bolter-buddies ... meanwhile freeing up your assault oriented veteran sergeant and any special weapon (flamer, plasma gun, meltagun) to go charging off to wreak some down-and-dirty havoc.

New Codex

I got the new codex today.
















Upon looking through it, I have to admit that I'm a little dissappointed. The older one had much much greater potential for personalizing and beefing up your various Aspiring Champions. They've definitely suffered.

You know what else has suffered? The Daemons. It's almost as if the designers added them to the codex as an afterthought.
Hey, we just spent all this time on the marines, and I just realized we need to do the daemons. Wait, fuck them. Let's make 'em all the same. Yeah!

You heard me. The lowdown is that a Khorne Bloodletter is NO DIFFERENT from a Nurgle Plaguebearer, OR a Daemonette, OR a Horror of Tzeentch! Imagine that, a Horror of Tzeentch having the SAME weapon skill and strength as a Bloodletter of Khorne! Also, the Greater Daemons are indistinguishable as well. Oh, and there's nothing about the various daemons not working with their opposites anymore. Basically, a unit of Khorne Berzerkers can summon a Greater Daemon of Nurgle, if they desire ... because he's the same stats/abilities -wise as their own Bloodthirster.

Tzeentchian Sorcerers and Chaos Lords also got a big whack from the nerf bat. No more customization, really. Hell, I feel like the normal Space Marine commanders had more options ... and that just doesn't feel right.
Basically that comment I made a bit ago about not bringing my Dark Angels Librarian to a fight with Chaos? No longer the case. I have nothing to fear from a Tzeentchian Sorcerer anymore. No more abilities that hinder my psychers and make them useless. ...so I might as well take my Librarian to nullify all of his psychic abilities.

Troop units can no longer buy 'Veteran Skills' like they used to. Seriously, what the hell? I thought these guys have been alive for centuries, millenia even, honing their abilities past those even attainable by hardened space marines. Well, it was a lovely thought, but a chaos space marine is now the same as a normal one in nearly all aspects. Oh wait, they don't get the 'And They Shall Know No Fear' rule... so the Space Marines have a little 'one up' on them. Curses...

Anyways, in an attempt to look past these fallbacks and still create an army that instills fear in my opponents' hearts, I spent the day poring over the codex looking for ways to maximize their power.

Here are a couple things I found out:

Chosen space marines are not the same as normal (like I thought at first glance). I know their stats are the same, but their wargear options are more varied and they can infiltrate. That's a taker in my book. Infiltration has a lot of times made the difference between a loss and a win.

Chaos Terminators can ALL be upgraded to Aspiring Champions. That was a weird discovery, but I'm not complaining. An entire squad of Aspiring Champions in Terminator Armour? Sign me up. Add some Deep Strike to that, please.

Possessed marines. 5 strength = ultimate hotness. Plus a bonus ability determined before the battle, most of which are rediculously useful.

The various dedicated space marines (Thousand Sons, Noise Marines, Plague Marines, and Berzerkers) no longer become elites options if your commander doesn't share that mark.
I'm planning on taking one squad of each. They've all become a bit more useful than they were before, despite the champions not being allowed the vast range of wargear that they had access to in the previous version.

Thousand Sons now ALL have Inferno Bolts. What this does is change their normal bolter fire from AP 5 to AP 3. 3! That cuts through Power Armour, my friend.

Berzerkers have a +1 to WS and Attacks. [edit:] and Furious Charge. Oo-rah! [/edit]

Plague Marines all have Blight Grenades (negates the bonus attack when charged), +1 Toughness, and 'Feel No Pain'. Sound like a bitch to kill, though I'm still mourning the loss of the 'True Grit' and the other ability where nearby models without the Nurgle mark automatically took damage every turn. Oh, and their Initiative dropped by 1. Lame. Well, if I'm going to be hitting last pretty much all the time, I'm giving my champion a Power Fist. Might as well make the most of it.

Noise Marines now have a +1 Initiative.

Add to all this that each squad champion has a Personal Icon, set to summon a 10 model squad of daemons held in reserve, and I've got quite a bit of punch hidden in them.

Dreadnoughts are now Elites instead of Heavy Support, as it should be.
Defilers' stats have been shifted a bit. Melee combat is a bit more viable, especially with the addition of the 'Fleet' ability.

Obliterator Cults are now Heavy Support instead of Elites.

I don't know about you all, but I'm planning on making a Black Legions Army. A little bit of each Chaos god represented... and a slight overall tendancy towards melee combat across the board should make this army interesting.

Company Master Ammael

Here's the HQ:

Company Master Ammael; Keeper of The Watch

I picked this model because he just looks way more badass than the other commander models. Holding that combi-gun one handed like a true pimp. You can't beat that.

With his high BS, I'm hoping to get a lot out of that one Plasma Rifle shot I get from his combi gun.














Here, you'll see the Command Squad I put together to go along with Ammael.

...yes, that's Brother Bethor in the back, for any of you old-school 40k'ers.

Another plasma gun and a plasma pistol for some ranged punch ... and a power fist, and power sword/combat shield combo on the champion to give them some close combat punch. The HQ should be equipped for anything, and that's how I want them.















Despite using Ezekiel's model, I'm using this guy as simply a Librarian.

No other Librarian model looked suitably "Dark Angels" to me, so there you have it.

In any kind of battle where I'm anticipating more of a ranged combat approach than a close combat one, I intend on taking my Librarian as the second HQ choice.















Here, you'll see my Interrogator-Chaplain. Sure he looks like Asmodai, but Asmodai doesn't carry a plasma pistol, does he? By now you can probably tell that I generally don't like to use Special Characters in actual matches. I've heard way too much bitching and whining about overpowered Special Characters. I'd rather skip all that nonsense and do the same damage with a generic Company Master/Librarian/Interrogator Chaplain.
I plan on using this guy for the more close combat oriented battles, as well as vs. chaos. The possibility of a Tzeentchian sorcerer is too high to take a Librarian just to have him be useless.
[edit:] No longer the case. See 'New Codex' post under Chaos Space Marines. [/edit]