Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Dark Angels (section)

==Unit Analysis==
===HQ===

*'''[[Azrael]], Supreme Grand Master''' - The closest thing Dark Angels have to the traditional "guy who costs as much as a Land Raider", clocking in at 215 points. His statline is the same as the Space Marine Chapter Master, albeit with a 2+ Save and 6+FnP. His Lion's Helm gives him and the members of any squad he joins a 4+ Invulnerable Save, which is quite handy, and he also swings a master-crafted Power Sword which strikes at Strength 6. Oh, and he carries a master-crafted blinding Combi-Plasma and a Bolt Pistol. Oh, and for 6th ed, Azzy now makes BOTH Deathwing and Ravenwing squads ''troops'', the ''entire army'' uses his leadership of 10 (not that this will affect space marines that often) and on top of that he can choose his warlord trait from the Dark Angels specific table instead of having to roll. 

*'''Master [[Sammael]] of the Ravenwing''' - He lets Ravenwing Attack Squadrons become Troops choices. His statline's identical to an SM Master's, but with Toughness 5. He pilots the Imperium's last functioning Jetbike, which just so happens to be loaded with a Plasma Cannon and a Twin-Linked Stormbolter. He also carries a Bolt Pistol for that ever so helpful +1 attack. He swings an AP2 Power Sword as he rides through the battle, and has an Adamantine Mantle (Eternal Warrior in a nice flapping cape). Also has an Iron Halo. Alternatively, he can take to the field in an AV14 on the front and sides, AV10 in the rear, Land Speeder armed with a Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter and a Twin-Linked Assault Cannon. With that Halo still working, meaning the speeder gets 4++. He also has Scouts, Skilled Rider, and Hit and Run like the rest of his company. A good, solid choice. How he rolls is up to your playstyle. Also, his jetbike model is one of the sexiest motherfucking models that GW has ever made.

*'''Master [[Belial]] of the Deathwing''' - At first Belial looks like a Company Master in Terminator Armour with the option for either his sword of silence, a fleshbane power sword, pair of Lightning Claws, or a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, but then you see that he gives you Deathwing Terminators as a Troops choice. Also any inner circle unit he joins does not scatter when deep striking. In large games he's going to die like a bitch because there is absolutely nothing else spectacular about him whatsoever, but in smaller games he's a reasonably-priced HQ choice who can help your Termies stomp a vital target. I recommend you take the Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield loadout if you're gonna face a lot of AP2 weaponry and his iron halo won't hold out. Otherwise, his sword of silence is pretty nasty against most things and if you're taking him, take a DW command squad to keep his ass alive. He can also shoot bitches out of squads with a 5+ Precision shot. So the SB on him can do that little bit more to ruin your opponent's shit.

*'''[[Ezekiel]], Grand Master of Librarians''' - He comes with the same statline of the Librarians of old, with stats comparable to a Company Master -1WS, and is now a mastery level 3 psyker who can roll from Divination, Pyromancy, Telepathy, or Telekinesis in any combination. This would be amazing if you could replace his stupid Mind Worm power with a third roll on the chart (for those wondering, Mind Worm is 12 inch range Assault D3 with S4 AP2 Ignores Cover and saps WS, BS, Ld and I from whichever model it wounds; objectively decent but comparatively terrible for the same reasons as Smite). Though Sap Will really hurts character or monstrous creature focused armies as the stat reduction is for the rest of the game and each wound caused reduces those stats by 3. So 2 or 3 hits essentially turns multi-wounds models into expensive paperweights maybe with a special rule or two.
**'''Gear:''' Ezekiel makes use of a ''two-handed'' master-crafted Force Sword (how useful), a master-crafted Bolt Pistol (why bother? His sword is two-handed), Artificer Armour (2+ armour save), and he carries the Book of Salvation, which gives all friendly units within 6" of him +1WS. He also comes equipped with a Psychic Hood, so all units within 6" of Ezekiel can use the him for Deny the Witch rolls. Since Ezekiel is Mastery Level 3, this helps quite a bit. Park him next to some Deathwing Knights and enjoy 3+ Witch Denial against everyone not named Eldrad or Ahriman.

*'''[[Asmodai]], Interrogator Chaplain''' - GUESS WHO'S BACK, MOTHERFUCKERS! Asmodai makes a welcome return in 6th, sporting a brand new model. In game terms, he comes loaded with all the goodies that make Chaplains Chaplains, plus his trademark Blades of Reason. You may scoff at their lack of an AP or strength bonus,  but they cause Instant Death. And if that's not your thing he still has his Crozus Arcanum.
**Now that the high of having this guy back has worn off, I really don't see any reason to actually take him. A regular Interrogator Chaplain with the Mace of Redemption has the same statline, basic wargear, and price, but puts out more damage more reliably. An Epistolary Librarian with a Conversion Field, Prescience, and a Force Sword can do roughly the same job as Asmodai while having AP3 to boot, all for 15 points less.

*'''Interrogator-Chaplain Seraphicus''' - According the the new FAQ, the limited edition Dark Vengeance Chaplain is actually a special character. Instead of re-rolls to hit on the charge, he lets his unit re-roll ones to hit and wound for both shooting and melee. The problem? It only works against Chaos Space Marines. For 125 points, he's the same cost as a regular Interrogator-Chaplain with a plasma pistol (he has one), but you have no reason to waste your points on this guy unless you know for sure that you will be facing CSM.
**'''Other Notes:''' Standard Interrogator-Chaplains already get this (Inner Circle gives them Preferred Enemy: Chaos Space Marines which does the exact same thing as Serpahicus's special rule) as well as Zealot. Chalk this up to a rushed FAQ that came out less than a week after the Codex hit the shelves and just take him as a standard Interrogator Chaplain with a plasma pistol.  

*'''Interrogator-Chaplain''' - Same as the regular Chaplain, but with +1 Wound,+1 BS, +1 Initiative, +1 attack, the ability to wear Terminator armour and so very much more. The Interrogator Chaplain is advised.

*'''Company Master''' - Clocking in at 90pts base, a cheap if underwhelming option, great for low point games. Generally overshadowed by the named Company Masters and the bonuses they give. If you're thinking of shelling out the points for Artificer Armour or Terminator Armour, you might as well pay the extra 100pts for Belial (you also get Terminators as Troops with him). If you want to fly (and you like Ravenwing), go for Sammael. If you want a cheap combat HQ, however, he's your man. Sometimes worth it, but I would suggest taking one of the named characters as your main HQ in higher point games.

*'''Chaplain''' - A general purpose support HQ. Allows himself and his squad re-rolls to hit in the first round of combat, no matter what, and comes with a 4+ Invulnerable Save and a Power Maul. Can ride a Bike, or use a Jump Pack. Still costs as much as a Company Master, and the Interrogator-Chaplain does everything this guy can do, only better. 

*'''Techmarine''' - Can be taken for every HQ that isn't a Command Squad or Techmarine themselves. Doesn't take up FOC, in the same way as a Command Squad. 50 points for Artificer Marine. Can be given a bike for speedy repairs.
*'''Librarian''' - The actual cheapest HQ choice, clocking in at 65pts base. The points-strapped player's Ezekiel. Can use the same disciplines as Ezekiel, but with -1 Wound, -1 BS, -1I, -1A and a 3+ Save. Can wear Terminator armour, but his Force Weapon isn't master-crafted. If you want to take a Librarian, spring for Ezekiel. You also can take a Bike, power field generator and an Auspex for him and ride somewhere behind vehicles, giving 4++ where it's most nessesary and reducing enemies cover save.
**'''Notes:''' Comes equipped with a Psychic Hood. All units within 6" of the psyker can use the psyker for Deny the Witch rolls. Usually improves the result by 1, by 2 if your psyker is level 2 and the opponent's psyker is level 1. If he's inside a transport, he can only attempt to Deny the Witch for the Transport.

*'''Company Command Squad''' - Let's say that for some reason you didn't take an HQ choice in terminator or on a bike. <s>For your peculiar efforts</s> they are the most usable for Standard of Devastation,with the ability to take boltguns, you can get these dudes to tag along with your HQ. Honestly, these guys aren't that bad if you load them up right. Think of them as Loyalist Chosen and you're not far off, armed to the teeth with a slew of special weapons. Be sure to take a banner and an apothecary but resist the urge to take a company champion unless you really need someone to take challenges.

*'''Deathwing Command Squad (New Unit)''' - Fairly pricey new unit that can do all the things a Deathwing squad can, wherein one guy can be made an apothecary, another dude can hold the flag and last but not least, one dude can be made the company champion, who gets +1WS and can take the Halberd of Caliban (+2S, AP2, 2-handed). Used to be a troops choice; now it's intended as a retinue for Belial or a Termie Master. Comes with 5 powerfists over the regular termies 4 and a powersword.

*'''Ravenwing Command Squad (New Unit)''' - Another reshuffling of the FOC, they are the Ravenwing equivalent to the Deathwing Command Squad. You can load these biker boyz out with all sorts of goodies including plasma talons (18" twin-linked plasma guns THAT ARE RAPID FIRE. FUCK YA.), Corvus Hammers (+1S, AP-, Rending) and one really weird grenade launcher. Just like the squad above, you can have an apothecary, banner bearer and a company champion. Enjoy! The squad is 3 knights but you can add two more guys, however Games Workshop only sell kits of three Black Knights. Do the math GW has not done (3+2&#8800;3+3) and take a squad of black knights or sell one to a friend if you don't want to waste your money. Irritating! Or use the leftover sixth bike to convert a bike character, since you need one anyway to unlock this unit. As a side note, these guys are 2 points each cheaper than their non-command squad Black Knight brethren, but have identical stats and wargear. If you're taking a character on bike and you plan on taking a smallish squad of black knights, you would be better served taking them as a command squad, so you can save yourself a FA choice and a few points.

*'''Damocles Rhino (Forgeworld)''' Yes, an HQ vehicle! Now 75 pts in IA12 and no longer takes up a HQ slot, so you still have to take another character, but is still one of your cheapest HQs (cheapest by points, but most expensive in terms of real money). Armed with nothing but a storm bolter and a searchlight for defense, with no transport capacity, it may not seem like an obvious choice. BUT, the Damocles true power lies in it's incredible support abilities, it allows a single Orbital bombardment in the same way as a codex chapter master, lets all teleporting units within 12" arrive without scatter and allows the owning player to modify reserve rolls by plus or minus one. This can be useful following a turn one-two Deathwing punch as not all Terminators are forced to used the Deathwing Assault rule, the reserve roll modifier is also handy for flyers, drop pods, outflanking scouts / ravenwing and land speeders, of which Dark Angels will have several. The damocles usefulness does not extend much past this however, and once the reserves have arrived and its bombardment spent theres not much you can do with it, but it will always have at least done something useful by the end of the game for 75pts.

===Troops===
*'''Tactical Squad''' - Now one of two troops choices (unless you took Belial or Sammael or Azrael). No longer outgunned by other marine codices, but they are essentially a shooty army's shooty troops unit: 70 pts. gets you 4 dudes plus a sarge, and 140 pts. gets you the traditional 10 dudes. The dudes are now the same price as vanilla Space Marine Tacs, but that's not a bad thing for either of us. If you take them, take a Rhino, rush an objective, camp and watch your opponent try and dig stubborn spess muhreens out of it. Can now get either a heavy or a special weapon from the beginning, and can take a flakk missile launcher. You are also able to combat squad them, which basically means that you can turn your 10 man squad into two 5 man squads before deployment.

*'''Scout Squad''' - Scouts used to be Fast Attack, then they were Elites and now they are troops like all others (sort of). Not much to say here, other than that they have the statline of a regular Scout. Long story short: you get what you pay for, and you don't pay much for these guys. If you decide to use them, I'd take them in a Sniper Scout squad with a Missile Launcher and just camp a home objective. This layout means they're a threat to pretty much everything they can see that's in range, including Monstrous Creatures. Unforgivably, they cost MORE than their codex counterparts and they don't even have Chapter Tactics / Grim Resolve, though the cost for those sniper rifles is built-in so you might as well take as many as you can. Also, the Ravenwing stole all their Teleport Homers and modded their transport Storm speeders into pimp-mobile Darkshrouds.

===Elites===
*'''Deathwing Terminator Squad''' - <s>This is why you play Dark Angels.</s> Not quite, anymore. They are still Fearless Terminators and can be taken as Troops, they can still do that Deep Strike on Turn 1 and yes, they can trade their Powerfists and Stormbolters for Thunder Hammers/Storm Shields (now at +5 pts/model; it was too good to last, anyway) and Lightning Claws (for free because, y'know, they don't grant a 3++ save) where they see fit. For 6th ed, you can now have squads of up to 10 of these guys PLUS you can now give 1 in every five termies an assault cannon, a cyclone missile launcher '''OR''' a fucking plasma cannon! They are also going to be fucking expensive now, which makes giving your tac and scout squads some room; that and there are some tournies that don't allow for special characters, and it's been FAQ that they're still an Elite choice if taken as an ally, regardless if the special character(s) makes them troops or not, so you'll have to make do with them. Either way, Deathwing termies are versatile as all fuck and will either squish shit to dust or they are going to be hard to shift from objectives if taken as troops. Also can split fire & twin linked then turn they deepstrike.
**'''New Codex Note''': Deathwing assault now works on turn 1 OR 2. You choose the turn before game; everyone arrives that turn without needing to roll for Reserves.
*'''Deathwing Knights''' - Deathwing Assault Termies, basically. Let's say that Deathwing Terminators just aren't cutting it for you and you want a stiffer, more intractable close combat squad. Say hello to Deathwing Knights: rockin' a WS5, powermauls that can become S10 AP2 once per game and get a +1T bonus when all their bases touch, they'll take apart anything in HtH but for 235 pts. for 4 plus a champ and 46 for each one (a bargain, if you think about it - sorta...), they fucking should! You better not roll ones on assault or Belial will hunt you down and bitch slap you. They also buff any attached IC's with Inner Circle with +1T and should you be assaulting anything from Codex CSM, the AP of their weapons improves by 1 to a maximum of AP1. They can also take Perfidious Relics to get Adamantium Will; combine with Ezekiel for some high-yield Calibanian witch denial. While Deathwing Knights are a powerful melee beat stick they are grossly overrated because they can only have that melee prowess for one turn before they turn into crap so you have to pick and choose when you use it or you will be stuck fighting marines for the rest of the game.
**'''Alternate View''': This AP4 S6 normal attack without smite is a very good horde stopper, loose these guys on any sort of horde esque unit with a low save and being able to attack at normal Initiative pays off well. These are particularly devastating to orks. So there is a huge boyz mob approaching? Behold as your Knights break the unit in 1 turn and turn on smite and destroy his Warboss as well as the entire unit of meganobs he's hiding in in 1 turn using instant death. They will break any infantry blob in the game, and have the You Cannot Hide special rule to pick out that commissar in that huge guard blob weighing you down. These can be an unholy unit of plague-assault-terminators with power mauls if they are used against the right foe. Anything but Space Marines or Sisters is totally screwed, but since most armies are MEQs then it should only be whipped out when facing non-marines or CSM.
**'''Note''': I was bored, and decided to run some numbers on this new unit. I have failed to find any REASONABLE unit of equivalent cost(I excluded things such as 465 points of Chaos Cultists) that can take survive a fight with a ten-man unit of Deathwing Knights. Ten of these guys, with Belial, was fully capable of taking down Abaddon with 10 Chaos Terminators in one turn. Ten of these guys were capable of taking down MORTARION(!) in one turn. It might have been Mathhammer, but I'm certain these guys ain't nothing to fuck with. Damn it, I thought these guys were pretty awesome too, but fighting anything other than Chaos Marines makes the maces only AP 4, which is kind of meh
**'''DW Knights are Awesome''': DW Knights are the best overall melee variant of DW.  Why?  You only get S10 ap2 once per game you say?  3 reasons: 1) immediate return on points cost, and 2) SURVIVABILITY against small arms fire. 3) You can't forget the knight master ALWAYS has S6 AP3 base of 3 attacks.  In most cases termies are thrown right into the thick of a battle where they're most useful - so they won't be surviving the whole game anyway.  It's a waste of points to have them sit on an objective. So..  
***1) S10 ap2 at initiative 4 all but guarantees you'll kill that deathstar unit - Imperial Knight, Baneblade, Termies Squad etc. on Turn 2.  That's an immediate return on their points cost.  
***2) Termies generally don't go down to a few expensive power sword/fist units - they'll go down to a cadre of firewarriors, first rank fire, second rank fire lasguns, or massive boltgun fire.  You are after all assaulting or teleporting into the teeth of the enemy.  In this case, T5 makes a huge difference against S4 and S5 weaponry.  Those boltguns are wounding on 5's (33%) instead of 4's (50%).  Those lasguns are wounding on 6's (16%) instead of 5's (33%).  This means the chances of getting off a 2nd assault are much higher, or if you chose to teleport next to their gunline, the chances of getting stuck-in at all are much higher.
***3) In that 2nd assault against a 'soft' unit - your Knight Master alone, with 4 S6 Ap3 I4 attacks on the charge guarantees you'll chew through a Power Armoured Squad.  If he died already, the weight of wounds from WS 5, S6 + hammer of wrath means you will always win the assault - even against 3+ armour
***In short.  The DW command squad with champion, apothecary, and a few hammers/shields is marginally better in melee - but costs a LOT more.  The only reason to not take Knights is because they have no shooty weapons and are not troops.
***5) They can also provide toughness five to units of death wing terminators! Manuvering your knights and terminators together? End the movement so half of the terminators are in contact for t5! Alternatively you could deepstrike the knights near a terminator squad, then use the run move to surround them and provide t5!

*'''Company Veterans Squad''' - Imagine Tactical Marines with an extra attack and some individual wargear options. That's pretty much what this unit is. If you somehow forgot while reading through this page, Dark Angels are a shooting army and these guys can take combi-weapons, but don't have the benefit of Sternguard extra bullets, and can take a heavy and a special weapon at 5 guys and an extra special at ten. Your terminators and bikes should be getting into hand-to-hand, not vets, so don't get tempted by that extra base attack (Still, remember it. It might be better to exchange the extra turn of rapid fire shooting so you charge rather then be charged). Unless you are using Greenwing, in which case, ignore CC for the most part. Or you can give everyone (errata'd to everyone rather than only three) Plasma Pistols instead of Chainswords to make a Cypher Squad for close-range shooting. Or, if you're feeling really mean, take 3 combi-plasmas, take a plasma gun and then once per game, unleash a shit load of plasma fire over the enemy scum. Rather useful for taking out nid warriors, I find.

*'''Dreadnought''' - A versatile choice. Can do everything generally well. It can punch, it can dakka. Dark Angels might just be the one Space Marine army wherein the Hellfire configuration (lascannons and missile launcher) make the most sense, but the rifleman is also a good sell. If you really wanna smash things with your half-dead space marine robot, get yourself a venerable dread.
**'''Venerable Dreadnought''' - clocking in at 125 pts. with NOTHING, which is a bargain considering it has a BS and WS of 5. Compared to other Venerables in other space marine armies, it DOES NOT have the venerable rule, but it is a Deathwing Vehicle. Although since Deathwing Vehicles allow you to make your opponent re-roll results on the damage table; it pretty much does have the old venerable rule, just called something else and with an added bonus against CSM. Venerable dreadnoughts are recommended against CSM, to whom they will do terrible things.

*'''Mortis Dreadnought (Forgeworld)''' - It's your special dreadnought ''(all other chapters are limited to 1 per detachment)'' 115pts basic with 2 Missile Launchers, which can be upgraded to two Twin-Linked Heavy Bolters, two Twin-Linked Autocannons or two Twin-Linked Lascannons. It also counts as Skyfire/Interceptor while stationary - take double autocannons, and think of it like your space marine hydra flak tank. Take 2 or Mortis Contemptor. Actually, did the mathhammer, Twin-linked Lascannons are actually better than twin-linked autocannons in terms of skyfire 

*'''Contemptor Dreadnought (Forgeworld)''' - Yes, you get the basic one that regular Spess Muhreens get. The Contemptor is easily Forgeworld's most popular model and it's not hard to see why: excellent armour (13/12/10), WS 5, fleet, automatic shielding and a many, ''many'' weapon options available.

*'''Contemptor Mortis (Forgeworld):''' Probably the best Contemptor variant, this guy trades in <s>fleet</s> heaving a melee weapon for more dakka, and the ability to gain Skyfire and Interceptor by standing still. Here's your loadout: ignore everything and take 2 Kheres pattern assault cannons and a cyclone missile launcher. There! You're done. If you find yourself not in range of the assault cannons, move forward and throw down with a couple of missiles. If you DO have something in assault cannon range, hold still and let the hate flow - your dread will loose a total of 12 S6 AP4 rending shots at 24" on a hapless unit and if you stood still, you can drop 2 more missiles on the poor fuckers. You will tear apart tanks, mow down infantry and blast aircraft out of the sky with this fucking thing. is also a victim of Forgeworld's schizophrenia, this bad boy has been moved back and forth from slot to slot, IA2:2nd moved it back to Elites and took away its BS5, presumably to balance out the sickening build recommended above, still wastes things even at BS4 though.
**Also this is EASILY the best anti-air model you can take in Codex: Dark Angels. If you are struggling to win games against Chaos Daemon Flying Circus or Chaos Space Marine Heldrake spam, brining one of these guys is usually enough to single-handedly turn the tide against their stupid OP-as-fuck flyers and you'll only spend slightly more points going double Kheres-Pattern assault cannons/TW-LasCannons + Cyclone Launcher as you would on your own overcosted Nephilim Jetfighter.

* '''Prometheus (Forgeworld)''' - An uber crusader. Two quad heavy bolters is the same number of shots as hurricane bolters at <12", twice as many at 12-24, and can actually shoot up to 36, with the advantage of being S5. It's a HB dev squad, twin-linked.  Granted, it loses the assault cannon but it fucks with cover saves and boosts reserve rolls (2+ reserves ftw!). Don't put it near enemy heavy armour, but a solid tank overall. Is it worth taking in a Dark Angels list? Depends on whether your Deathwing are troops... since you're often competing for elite FOC space. ''However, if your opponent is gracious, the Deathwing can take a Land Raider of ANY type as a dedicated transport, you just have to pay the points cost to make it a Venerable one.''

===Fast Attack===
*'''Assault Squad:''' An Assault Squad is an assault unit in a shooty army. Although they are theoretically good as a cheap, fast-moving tarpit, they take up a valuable Fast Attack slot that would be much better filled with Ravenwing. If you want jump pack power, pick up Codex: Blood Angels and field them as allied Troops.
**'''Alternative Opinion:''' DA Assault Marines are a decent unit, although they don't see much use for players that run Ravenwing/a hybrid with other Wings, or finds other units to be more useful. Generally Greenwing armies can find use for them, giving that our flyers are overpriced (They have easy access to alot of Flakk Missles anyway), and most of the other units in the FA slot is RW based. Their main use, in case you don't know, is to mop up objective campers/shooty units that are either weak, suck in melee, come in low numbers, or any combination. The major fatal blow that our Assault Marines suffer is that Allies, at least with Blood Angels, can do the same job AND be scoring units. Still, these guys aren't bad if you have plenty of scoring units and want to be fluffy with them wearing robes, in a Greenwing list of course, so these two builds is what I would recommend running them if taken:
**1). 10 man squad with Meltabombs: Can take on units like Kroots, Cultists, Pink Horrors, and the like, and can go after vehicles after they have done their job. I also wouldn't advise droping their Jump Packs at all, since they can't take a Razorback instead, and Rhinos just makes them worse, having to waste a turn in order to assault the said unit.
**2). 5 man squad with a Flamer, inside a Land Raider Redeemer: A costly build, but works well against Horde armies, at least Orks and Tyranids. Since the Redeemer is an Assault vehicle, this makes it easy for the Marines to charge in after the Flamestorm Cannon and Flamer wreck havoc on your targeted xenos scum. This can also work with a Drop Pod, just add another Flamer and give those heretics a big surprise.

*'''Ravenwing Attack Squadron''' - Your Troops choice if you picked Sammael ''(or Azrael)''. You start with 3 Bikes, with the option of buying 3 more. Unlike most other space marine bikers (except white scars) these guys all have hit & run, but they also have the scout USR meaning either extra movement at the start of the game or the ability to outflank them and ruin your opponents shit, especially if you want to deep strike deathwing close to a board edge using your teleport homers, which each guy comes with as standard. You can also buy an Attack Bike; since bracketed Toughness values are now actual, the Attack Bike can't be Instant Death'd by a Krak Sniper. Attach Meltaguns for tank hunting fun. Combine with Assault Cannon-wielding Deathwing for extra fun. Also if the unit has 6 Bikes in it, a Land Speeder as well. Unfortunately, the Land Speeder isn't scoring if the unit gets made into troops, but it does save you from spending Fast Attack slots on land speeders if you'd prefer to use other options. 

*'''Ravenwing Black Knights''' - You saw those Deathwing Knights, right? These are their RW equivalent: not much different from a standard biker stat-wise (+1A, +1Ld), but these bros do each come with Corvus Hammers (+1S, rending melee weapons) + Pistols and Plasma Talons, which makes them a threat to pretty much everything. Equipping these fellas with ravenwing grenade launchers gives access to rad-shells (temporary -1T), and stasis shells (temporary -1 WS and -1 I). Have fun insta-killing carnifexes, tervigons and <s>Gundams</s> Riptides with S10 weaponry or wiping out marines before they strike. GL combines nastily with Deathwing Knights - Smite mode can make use of -1 T, while AP3 versus CSM combined with WS/I debuff means your DW Knights will strike before CSM, hit on 3+, wound on 2+ and won't allow armour saves. Also note that against Imperial Guard/Eldar you can -1 toughness and turn them into a delicious insta-gib meal for S 4 Bolters. (Add Standard of Devastation for 4x the lulz.)
**'''Other Notes:''' When taking a Deathwing Army, you're more often than not better off with these guys instead. Not only do these guys say "Fuck you" to the whole "Difficult = Dangerous thing" that comes with Skilled Rider USR (actually, ignoring Dangerous Terrain altogether!) but they have an improved Jink (extra fuck you), and they're basically Ymgarl Genestealers that always have the Toughness and Strength boost, -2 Initiative, -1 Weapon Skill, moving around like an asshole, and twin plasma guns. We even have the same number of attacks as a Genestealer (on the charge, thanks to our two weapons), and rending! Even better, they also keep their Teleport homers, so you can deepstrike Terminators easily, and in stranger spots.
** Taking an Interrogator chaplain on a bike makes these guys even deadlier. Along with the obvious benefit of Fearless, he combos surprisingly well with Hit & Run. Instead of charging in for a single turn of re-rolls then being stuck and unable to get out of combat thanks to Fearless, the Black Knights charge in with re-rolls and can then Hit & Run using the chaplains imitative 5,  letting them break out of combat, since they're not choosing to fail a morale check. They then proceed to turn around and assault them, getting the re-rolls all over again. Rinse and repeat.

*'''Ravenwing Support Squadron''' - Land Speeders, NOT just like what the other chapters get, for two reasons. First, you can take up to five of these instead of everyone else who only gets three. This makes speeders a very versatile if somewhat expensive choice. Equip them with a Typhoon and a Multi-Melta in order to handle hordes and tanks. Equip them with double flamers to make nids and other weedy skirmishers cry. Equip them with assault cannons and heavy bolters so you can force multiply with Sammael when he decides to leave his jetbike at home. Squadron them up if you wish. Take 2.
**It's the cheapest way to field Heavy Bolters en-masse. 250 points nets you 10 heavy bolters, all that are arguably more difficult to deal with than they would be mounted on mere power armour marines. 30 S5AP4 shots at 36 inches on highly mobile with BS4 for only 250 points is massively underrated
***Except that a second Heavy Bolter is 10pts per model, increasing the cost to 300 points.

*'''Ravenwing Dark Talon''' - THIS THING TROLLS ALL OTHER ARMIES. GET IT. I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE GOING TERMINATOR, JUST GET IT. It just wouldn't be 6th edition without flyers, and DA managed to get two. Not the best armour to be had at 11 all around, but it does pack a lot of dakka, as in double hurricane bolters and a S5 AP- heavy 1, blinding, blast rift cannon. The stasis bomb drops a can of [[Derp]] on your enemy, debuffing them for a whopping -3 to WS and I. Couple one of these with a Black knight unit for extra rage and hilarity. A Stormtalon WOULD be better, but this bad boy is meant to ''SUPPORT'' your army rather than dealing all the damage by itself.
**With the new Vanilla Marines codex, taking Stormtalons as allies is incredibly streamlined, and you don't even need to change the color of your minis (swap out "Grim Resolve" and "Inner Circle" for a Chapter Tactic of your choice, ''([[Astral Claws]] is the best fit)'' and point costs will be identical or near-identical). Suddenly Stormtalon all up in this bitch.
**In addition: the Astartes Stormwing dataslate which allows you to take a formation of 2 stormtalons and a strafing storm raven without committing to a whole allies detachment.

*'''Nephilim Jetfighter:''' Largely considered one of the biggest pieces of shit in the game... which is surprising, given this Codex was written by [[Jeremy Vetock]], not [[Robin Cruddace]]. In any case, it's not ''quite'' as bad as the Internet sometimes makes it out to be, but it is very close. The main issue is that it's 180 points for a flyer with a single twin-linked lascannon, a twin-linked heavy bolter, 6 (pointless?) Strength 6 missiles, and AV 11 on all sides. Yep, that's all you're getting, at nearly the same cost as a [[Heldrake]]. It also has something of a schizophrenic loadout. See, it has a special rule called Unrelenting Hunter, so that, when firing at enemy vehicles, you can make the enemy swap out Weapon Destroyed for Immobilized. Really good for destroying flyers, right? Well, no. You still only have a single lascannon. More importantly, it ''also'' has Strafing Run, a (rare) USR that does two things when firing at ground targets. First off, you get +1 BS, which means it'll be chewing away at BS 5. Secondly, it causes Pinning. But you only have a lascannon, right? Nope, you can switch out for an Avenger mega bolter for free. You'll get 5 S6, AP 4, Pinning shots at BS 5. Suddenly, it became a fairly decent ground attack craft... except it's still not as good as a Heldrake, ''and'' you're giving up 180 points of anti-aircraft. ''Fuck.'' One option, if you're feeling like having fun, is to get two, one with las, one with avenger mega bolter, next to a Darkshroud and destroy all enemy flyers while enjoying a 3+ cover save.
**'''alternate opinion''': take this with some salt since I don't play Dark Angels, but I can see no reason WHY you can't use the Avenger bolt cannon on other flyers, no other flyer has armour higher then 12 so worst case, you can try to glance enemy flyers with weight of shots and still have the option to strafe ground targets lending it a higher degree of flexibility then the single shot weapons. I know where the previous author is coming from, but sadly you aren't a Necron Annihalation barge, you can't simply glance flyers to death with an abundance of shots. With only five shots, you will be lucky to get one glance on a flyer; stick to strafing infantry with this one. 
**Get yourself a Fire Raptor gunship from forgeworld, it does exactly the same job, but better.

*'''Ravenwing Darkshroud''' - Fuckin' A the Ravenwing got a lot of new shit! Anyway, you know how shooty armies have to scurry around finding cover so they don't get set up for an assault or blasted for being out in the open? Well, the Dark Angels Techmarines thought "why not bring our own cover?" Let's be serious for a second: it's a big landspeeder. Yes, you can deepstrike it like a landspeeder, but you're gonna miss out on providing cover for things in rhinos. Second, it has the HUEG GUTS problem, as every Blood Angels player is familiar with. Just keep this thing behind some rhinos, giving your guys <s>shrouded</s> <s>ONLY GIVES STEALTHED NOW!! WAS NERFED INTO NEAR UNFAIR USEFULLNESS!</s> since when did ever give shrouded to other units? Codex says stealth-and doing mean things to whatever thought it was a good idea to charge that tac squad. Also watch <s>Turbo-boosting</s> Ravenwing get 3+ Jink, and Black Knights/Command Squad get 2+ due to Skilled Rider. Obviously, this thing NEEDS to be Turbo-boosted EVERY turn for 2+ Jink or it WILL die easily.

*'''Land Speeder Tempest Squadron (Forgeworld)''' - Feels like a good fluffy choice for Dark Angels armies as an alternative to Ravenwing support squad though with slightly improved front armour and the ability to shrug off crew shaken/stunned with armoured cockpits. IA2:2nd made this cooler, with the addition of twin-linked flakk missiles, a squadron of these can perform any role asked of it. Anti-Infantry & Anti-Tank using rending assault cannons and frag or krak missiles depending on your situation. Even without skyfire on the assault cannon, the amount of shots are bound to hit something in the air if you have several of them. While not true flyers, if you wanted to you can reposition on the battlefield them as if they were flyers. 

*'''Relic Javelin Attack Speeder (Forge World)''' - An upgunned and uparmoured Land Speeder that flies solo. AV11 means it is now invulnerable to bolter fire, but still melts under anti-tank (though jink saves help a bit). Costs less than a Tempest speeder, but it is more customisable, packs a cyclone missile launcher (for shots instead of twin-linked) OR a twin linked lascannon for tank hunting and as a nice bonus it looks absolutely '''fabulous'''. The main downside is a real money price - almost THREE TIMES MORE than regular speeder - like it's silver-plated or something. Also as a relic requires an Interrogator Chaplain if you want to take more than one.

*'''Caestus Assault Ram (Forge World)''' - Craziest vehicle in the game, designed to ram things (hence the name), and accomplishes this by having a 5+ inv. save against attacks on the front (inc. rams, either from the enemy ramming you or you ramming them), re-rolls the armour penetration dice when ramming, and +1 to the vehicle damage roll, and godlike-impenetrable for a flyer armour of 13 13 11. Contains a twin-linked MAGNA-MELTA (WTF?), which is: range:18" str:8 AP:1 type:Heavy 1, large blast, melta. Sound fun, eh? Holds ten men, ideal for punching a hole in the enemy battle lines and disgorging troops, AND it's an assault vehicle, so straight into close combat ''(and no restriction against terminators, in fact, they only count as one man inside this, not two! *even BETTER in Dark Angels armies*)''. Now this means that the Caestus has to be fast, and it is! Its type is: Flyer (hover mode), and it STILL can ram/tankshock while zooming. Comes stock with extra armour, and Ceramite shielding (immunity to 'melta' rule). Options are: Firefury missile battery (range: 36" str:6 AP:4 type:Heavy 4, blast, twin-linked, one-use), Teleport homer, and Frag assault launchers. One should use the Caestus to ram straight through the strongest point in your enemies force, in most battles you'll be there on turn one, thanks to the 36" afterburner. Ram a tank with this (Generally given the colossal afterburner you'll give them a S10 hit) and then deploy the men inside (preferably dedicated H2H troops), and charge straight in against the nearest infantry, or if you feel like it, shove a grenade up a nearby tank's tailpipe. The latest rules for the Caestus are in Imperial Armour: Volume 2, 2nd Edition which explicitly gives it an exception to the supersonic rule where it can choose to enter hover mode and the passengers can disembark.

===Heavy Support===
*'''Devastator Squad''' - These guys got better, and hot damn did they need to! This can be where you get your cheap, en mass anti-air: missile launchers + flakk missiles x4 + 70 pts. to start with the squad offers 4 flakk missile shots a turn for about 170 pts, although Dark Angels can field a Mortis-pattern Dreadnought with two twin-linked autocannons for 135 points. If you are looking for cheap AA, the Mortis can deliver a more accurate barrage coming from a more durable platform, unless you're not allowed to use Forge World models in your tournament. Alternatively, these guys can use heavy bolters at no extra cost (Minus the flakk missile upgrade), and they shine in games below 1500 pts. against Orks, Guards, Daemons, ect. So if you take them, get the Veteran sergeant carry a power sword and either a Plasma pistol or a bolter, and go for the cheap heavy weapons (I wouldn't recommend going for two of each). But in bigger point games, get the Dark Talon or a Predator to do your bidding instead.

*'''Land Raider''' - The classic schizo version. Comes with 2 Twin-Linked Lascannon sponsons and a Heavy Bolter. In some lists it could see some use (Deathwing spam with no Dreadnoughts (WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT) comes to mind), but for most cases I'd suggest leaving this alone and choosing the Crusader variant instead. 

*'''Land Raider Crusader''' - Your premier Deathwing carrying Metal Box. Rolls with a Twin-Linked Assault Cannon, a Multi-Melta, two Hurricane Bolters, and lets whatever assaults out of it count as having Frag Grenades for the same price as the schizo version. Why you wouldn't choose this variant is beyond me. Can get a MOTHERFUCKING Venerable upgrade. Stick a Power Field-carrying Techmarine near it and you have a nearly unkillable bawks.

*'''Land Raider Redeemer''' - Used for when you need to apply more fire. For 5 points cheaper than the Crusader, it replaces the hurricane bolters and four models worth of transport capacity for two Flamestorm Cannons. The addition of two strength 6 AP 3 templates helps melt power armoured foes. The lack of the torrent rule does mean that you will be up close to utilize all your guns, but since it's an assault vehicle just slap some Thunder Hammer Termies inside and drive closer to hit them with your sword(hammer). For added shenanigans against mechanized infantry lists, take a multi-melta, use it with Power of the Machine Spirit to [[METAL BOXES|take away their metal bawkses]] and the Flamestorm Cannons to incinerate the fewlz inside.

* '''Land Raider Helios (Forgeworld)''' - It thinks it's a Whirlwind on steroids, which comes stock with twin-linked lascannon sponsons.  More survivable and versatile than the Whirlwind, but is definitely not worth the points cost unless you go for the anti-air version, since the Ordnance rules on the Launcher cause every other weapon on the tank to snap-fire at BS1, even if you PotMS with them. Also carries six models for some insane reason. If you ask us, it'd probably be better off not being able to transport infantry in exchange for two more gun mounts, probably autocannons. ''Mais c'est la vie''.  
**ALTERNATE TAKE: If you prefer, you can swap the ordnance whirlwind for the AA version, which works very well as an enemy vehicle hunter, <strike>the twin-linked</strike> "heat seeking" krak missile launcher can used PotMS to shoot a flyer separately from the lascannons (don't forget it has interceptor too!) OR all weapons can be used on ground targets to obliterate ground vehicles like a lascannon predator. Not bad if you're only transporting six models anyways (i.e. HQ + command squad) since it's basically thirty points to upgrade the heavy bolter to a krak missile launcher for breaching bunkers and tanks before assaulting the soft fleshy people inside as it is still an assault vehicle. Not that a command squad needs a LR, but this could be an awesome choice for them if you do it anyways. Can also be given a Multi-Melta if you want to go nuts for a premier tank hunter which can even outperform the Achilles (below) for LESS points.

* '''Land Raider Achilles (Forgeworld)''' - Oh hell yes.  For the same price as the Terminus Ultra, this beast sports a Thunderfire Cannon and twin-linked multi-melta sponsons, has immunity to the Melta and Lance special rules, puts a -1 penalty on most other attacks, can carry six models, and doesn't go 'splodey.  Put a scout squad and a techmarine in it, plonk it down on an objective, and watch your opponent throw a shit fit. Eldar and Dark Eldar will really [[Rage]] at it since that don't have much anti-tank outside of meltas and lances. Tthough, they have haywire/D-weapon, and you really should beware them, as hawks, wraithguards, witches and scourges would blow your "expensive but invincible" tank in eye blink, once they came in threat range. Follow with cheap librarian with bike and Powerfield generator for a 4++ (divination for rerollable inv save shenanigans). Just try and destroy that platform of death, I dare you...)

*'''Spartan Assault Tank (Forgeworld)''' - Forgeworld takes the old schizophrenic Land Raider, and pumps it up with steroids. Fucking '''five''' hull points, two twin-linked two-shot lascannons (it almost gets off as many lascannon shots as a terminus ultra while still being able to carry troops, doesn't go boom when you roll badly, and gets way more goodies), TL heavy bolters, transport capacity of '''25''', in-built extra armour, good-old 14/14/14, PotMS and Assault Vehicle. You even can take frag launchers (which got far more awesome with the new grenade rules) and ceramite shielding (fuck you, meltaguns) for a marginal increase in points. Meaning it can do the roles of the Terminus Ultra, the Achilles, and the Ares all at the same time, all it really needs are some burny weapons. But what are the drawbacks you ask? This uber metal box can not be taken as a dedicated transport at all. Also, as a Forgeworld model, it will cost you a unicorn's soul.
**At only 45 points more, there is no reason to take the Godhammer landraider over this beast ever again.
**Your opponent might hate your guts if you field this.

*'''Predator''' - If you want to kill infantry, add Heavy Bolter sponsons and nothing else. It's dirt cheap (95pts), and can threaten light vehicles with its Autocannon. If you want something more for popping tanks, keep the Autocannon turret and slap on the Lascannon sponsons. This is 115pts, and does its job. The Tri-Las is not bad if you face Monsterous Creatures often, and it can also pop Land Raiders better. Going overboard with the Lascannons is expensive though, so bear that in mind.

* '''Relic Predator Executioner (Forgeworld)''' - Do you remember Leman Russ Executioner? Well, space marines look at it, and say "we need something like that". With 3-shot plasma cannon this thing would blast MEQ and TEQ from table next turn they come in range. Additionally, you can swap main gun for heavy conversion beamer - this would only work better on high distances, and force you to move or shoot, but 48-72" S10 AP1 big blast shot would retake the price of tank the second it shot - think of it like a long range Vindicator.

* '''Predator Infernus (Forgeworld)''' - Predator with turret mounted flamestorm cannon (those AP3 flamethrower from Redeemer). While highly devastating at close range it's just too slow. Slow flamer tanks sucks. If you want one that bad, just take allied Blood Angels with a Baal Pred. '''If''' this thing come close to any non-TEQ infantry, it would ruin their day, and then die to a single melta shot, or hail of krak grenades. But most commonly it would just die, because big scary flamer, approaching your lines attract a LOT of fire. Thank god, this tank is also cheap, so you can use it as [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|expendable fire magnet]]. Alternatively Infernus can exchange his super-flamer for MAGNA-MELTA (R18 S8 AP1 Heavy1, Large Blast, Melta), transforming into wannabe-Vindicator.

*'''Whirlwind''' - Your artillery piece. Can't do shit against vehicles, but hordes fear it. 20 points cheaper than in the last codex. The Whirlwind may or may not be used depending on the point size and who you're facing. In games below 1000pts, you can find use for these against lightly armoured infantry. It can also help slow down MEQs from advancing into close combat, which isn't bad for it's points. However, because you can only take one per a slot, and can't squardron them, they eat up a valuable Heavy Support slot, competing with Predators and Devastator Squads/Contempor Mortis Dreadnaughts. As it is, this is a fine choice in low point games, but quickly loses its use when you go past 1000pts.

*'''Whirlwind Hyperios (Forgeworld)''' - This thing is supposed to be your main ground based anti-air, but it sucks. One skyfire/interceptor krak shot per turn, no longer twin-linked against ground targets as of IA2:2nd ''(but still heat-seeking against aircraft)'' and you can not squadron this thing like IG player squadron their Hydras. Just take Devastators or a Contemptor Mortis.

*'''Relic Whirlwind Scorpius (Forgeworld)''' - Unlike the standard Whirlwind, the Scorpius fires a small blast, but at S8 and AP3 it eats marines and light vehicles for breakfast. And if it stands still it can fire D3+1 templates. It is a relic vehicle so take an Interrogator Chaplain if you use a lot of similar Forgeworld stuff.

*'''Vindicator''' - This tank features a very scary gun. A very scary Strength 10 AP2 Large Blast gun. This tank is a massive fire magnet, and thus probably won't get to drop its hot steamy load over an unfortunate squad. It has AV13 on the front though, so if your Demolisher Cannon gets blown off it's still great for tank shocking.

*'''Land Speeder Vengeance (New Garbage Unit)''' - at 140 pts, just forget it take a Vindicator. Someone on The Rock one day, likely after a lengthy campaign against Orks, took a look at the venerable land speeder and said "needs more dakka!" Always a welcome idea, but they messed up the dakka-to-weight ratio. Comes with an assault cannon and the plasma storm battery, which has two shooting profiles: heavy 1 large blast, great for messing up blobs, and heavy 3, great for [[Derp|glancing your own speeder to death]] under the new Gets Hot rules. Like we said, those 140 points are better spent on something more sturdy. The Land Speeder Vengeance is literally just a land speeder profile, meaning you're paying '''90 goddamn points''' purely for the plasma storm battery attached to it.
**If you have one of these (which is only acceptable if you magnetized it to run it as either this for gimmick games, or as the vastly superior <s>Protoss Arbiter</s> Darkshroud), bring a Librarian as one of your HQ choices. The Primaris power for Divination, Prescience, allows you to re-roll all misses on the target unit. Glancing yourself to death with Gets Hot rolls effectively gets eliminated, and it lets you re-roll Gets Hot <i>and</i> your Scatter should you fire the large plasma blast template. It doesn't eliminate the fact it is overcosted like woah, but it does make it pretty killy.

*'''Storm Eagle (Forge World)''' - Your transport Flyer. ''(IA12 moved it to Heavy)'' Occupies the middle-ground between the [[Stormraven]] and the [[Thunderhawk]]. Transport capacity of 20, with deathwing terminators and jump infantry counting as 2 models each. Impressive arsenal of weaponry, standard armament: Hull-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolter, Hull-mounted Vengeance Launcher (Range:48"|Str:5|AP:4|Heavy 2, Large Blast). Optional armament includes: Switching Heavy bolters for Multi-meltas or a Typhoon missile launcher, and adding 4 Hellstrike Missiles or 2 Twin-linked Lascannon under the wings. Also get ceramite shielding, and the 'Power of the Machine Spirit' special rule, along with 12|12|12 armour. Can also deep strike, and disembarking infantry can assault in the same turn. = *WIN*   
**While passengers on zooming flyers after crashing is always a worry, remember that this flyer is considerably harder than most other flyers barring the Heldrake anyway, at AV12 all round, HP4 and ceramite plating it is pretty much invulnerable to small arms fire, so your opponent will have to dedicate his biggest weapons to take it out; even when it decides to hover. (Therefore NOT shooting at your newly disembarked terminators). Also, don't forget that with all things Dark Angels, you use SYNERGY to get the most out of your units, a hovering flyer gets a jink save that can be boosted by having a Darkshroud nearby, or you attach a techmarine with a power field to the passenger unit and he blankets the vehicle thanks to the 7th Edition FAQ again, hell, the force field can even protect the passengers if it explodes mid air.

*'''Fire Raptor Gunship (Forge World)''' - Official rules in IA2:2nd. Comes naked with a TL Avenger Bolt Cannon ''(being a proper [[Fist of the North Star|manly]] S6 AP3 7 shots instead of the peewee Nephilim's AP4 5 Shots)'', 4 '''Stormtrike Missiles''' ''(S8 Concussive, NOT Ordnance, YAY)'' and two Independent-Turret Quad Heavy Bolters ''(which can be replaced with TL Autocannon for free)''; the latter which aside from firing at their own targets as rumored, don't count towards the number of weapons fired! With all the twin-linked goodness, Strafing Run and PotMS/Independent-turrets; this bastard can dump its entire payload on [[Cheese|FOUR SEPARATE TARGETS]] in a single turn and hit almost every time and it's only 45 points more than the Nephilim = BARGAIN ''(except for FW prices)''. It is a relic vehicle, so if you want to take more than one ''(or any other relic vehicle)'' remember to grab an Interrogator Chaplain as one of your HQ choices.

*'''Legion Rapier Battery (Forgeworld)''' - 1-3 Rapier Quad Linked Heavy Bolters (like on the Prometheus). Two of them are essentially a devastator squad. Though can be upgraded to Laser Destroyers, which is like a lascannon devastator squad with a shorter range but are twin-linked and give the ordnance ability of an extra chance of penetration against vehicles. The drawback to this is that they don’t have the mobility of a tank or Heavy Support Squad would give you. You’ll want to set them up in terrain somewhere in the backfield and not move them after they are deployed. Points for points the Rapier will be cheaper than many of the Heavy Support choices and will probably be just as lethal.

*'''Deathstorm Drop Pod (Forgeworld)''' - Expecting the drop pod that just landed to contain troops or a heavy weapons platform you don't have to worry about until next turn?  SURPRISE! Whirlwind missiles! For you! In the face! There are two different versions though since GW [[RAGE|cannot co-ordinate]] with Forgeworld: Though Imperial Armour 2 is more recent than Warzone: Damnos by a margin of a couple of months, Damnos is a valid core GW product (if your opponent argues with you over Forgeworld) and uses much the same rules as the Horus Heresy version which is even more recent than them both.
**'''Warzone Damnos:''' It is considerably more reliable simply by dropping most of the old special rules and just saying "Hey, I've got FIVE whirlwind launchers!!" Each with independent machine spirits that can shoot in a different direction. While those that read the small print will find that it fires only the SMALL (3") blast markers, that downside is traded off with the fact that it forces re-rolls for pinning and morale checks.
**'''IA2:2nd''' changed it AGAIN because of FW schizophrenia. It's gone back to what it used to be, meaning it spams proper whirlwind missiles on EVERYTHING on the turn it arrives, then reverts to a stationary whirlwind launcher for the rest of the game. The launchers may also be upgraded to assault cannons for an extra 20 points, but this should only be done if you expect it to survive more than one turn (and you really shouldn't). ''Very'' situational, but if your opponent fields lots of small units relatively close together, dropping this in the middle of them is almost guaranteed to ruin his day. Can't take a locator beacon, though and does not come with the Drop Pod Assault rule as standard, that has to be bought.

*'''Space Marine Sentry Gun Battery (Forge World)''' - From IA:12 you get a battery of up to three immobile twin-linked Heavy Bolters for the bargain cost of 15 points each and swap them for a Multi-melta for five or pay ten for TL Lascannons. Being automated, you have very little control over what they actually do in the battle, they select their own targets based on pre-set criteria, you basically just get to choose at deployment what their arcs are: 360 degrees but at 18" range, or 90 degrees at 36" range, so you're rarely going to be blasting things across the table with these things. You DO get the ability to deep strike them for a laugh or give them camo netting for stealth if you can set them up in a good spot to make them invulnerable to most shooting. (while you can pay the cost for both, just don't because it you deep strike into cover you are waiting for a mishap. Set them up behind an aegis defense line with camo for 2+ cover.
**DON'T EVER mix and match guns or targeting criteria, nowhere in the rules do they say they deploy separately or behave any differently from any other artillery battery, meaning they should all be firing at the same target, which is still the one they select for themselves...
**As a added bonus though, you can instead swap the guns for Hyperios Missile Launchers, which don't suffer from the firing modes rules, allowing you to direct the shots at your leisure. Basically krak missiles with skyfire and interceptor, this configuration does most jobs you ask it to without complaint, just don't waste the points (or the money) with the command platform, as by swapping one of the guns you've replaced the ability to fire three missiles at the same target with two missiles at different targets...  it should have been a free upgrade or the unit needed to be bigger than three launchers... certainly not clever.

===Dedicated Transports===
Virtually identical to Ultramarines, so if you understand those then nothing much has changed.
*'''Rhino''' - A great transport, and dirt cheap. They can become a shield wall once you've dropped off the squad riding inside, and can attempt to repair themselves in the shooting phase. In a Deathwing/Ravenwing list, these will see very little use.
*'''Razorback''' - A Rhino with the transport capacity lowered, but with a big gun stuck onto it to compensate. Great for ferrying around Command Squads. The cheapest option is to keep the heavy bolter or switch it with a twin linked heavy flamer. But an extra heavy gun for only 20 points is almost never points misspent as razorbacks can be used in the same roll as a predator if you have a shortage of points or have run out of heavy support options. Dark Angels Razorbacks can also be equipped with a twin linked assault cannon in addition to all the other gun options you can choose. This gives you a lot of budget firepower and even more options for this little box. pair up the assault cannon with a flak missile equipped devastator squad to make absolutely positively certain that your opponents flying, vector striking, marine melting hell drake dies on turn one!
*'''Drop Pod''' - Enters play via Deep Strike and only mishaps if it goes completely off the board. Great for dropping a suicide Dreadnought behind a tank that needs liquidation. Also to keep in mind, is our Drop Pods have Drop Pod Assault. Pretty much when a Drop Pod successfully comes out of reserve, another one can come on the board without the need to roll for it. Good if you combine Assault Marines with Flamers and a Dreadnaught, as you can do some pretty good damage.
*'''Lucius Pattern Drop Pod (Forge World)''' - big dreadnought drop pod, the new IA:A put it back into a dedicated transport role and nerfed it incredibly. No longer can your close combat rape dreads charge out of it on the turn it arrives, ''(though oddly, the rules say that dreadnoughts CAN charge out of it if they decide to remain embarked for a turn, which it could do anyway since it's already an open topped transport)'' and now it just grants itself and its passenger the Shrouded USR the turn it arrives, so now there's a slightly lesser chance of having your dreadnought blown to bits that turn, but only slghtly.  Also, this is the only drop pod you can fit Contemptor in. So what? They only Contemptor you'd take is the Mortis with 2 Assault Cannons/Autocannons and the Cyclone Missile Launcher anyway. Who needs a pod?

===Fortifications===

*'''Aegis Defense Lines:''' A cheap option to give cover to your gunline Tacs. Also comes with a Quad Gun, so you can skyfire whatever tries to bomb the shit out of you from the air. What's not to like? Stick 2 tactical squads behind it, and a command squad with standard of devastation. Laugh as you throw out 80+ bolter shots a turn.

*'''Skyshield Landing Pad:''' Meh, it's an okay choice for Dark Angels. The Invulnerable save you can get from it can help, tho for just 30 more pts, an Aegis Defense Lines with a Quad Gun is better.

*'''Imperial Bastion:''' Another good choice, comes with a Heavy Bolter on each side and can also take a Quad Gun. You can only fit limited amount inside of it tho, so keep that in mind. Pefect for a Devastator Squad tho.

*'''[[Fortress of Redemption]]:''' Unholy shit! This fortress is EXPENSIVE! For the price of A Land Raider, you get a big fortress that grants you generous cover saves, along with other cool stuff. Unless you're doing Tactical squads over Death/RavenWing units, you may want to save your points for something else.

===Apocalypse Only Units===
* '''[[Fellblade]]''' - This is your THIRTEEN BARRELS OF HELL, + 1BS.The Fellblade mounts a turret mounted twin 'accelerator cannon' which can fire either high explosive rounds (100" range, S8 AP3 ord1 7" blast) or armour piercing shells (100" range, heavy 1, S9 AP2, Armourbane, 3" blast). Add to that 2 quad lascannons, a twin heavy bolter and a hull demolisher cannon and you have an absolutely rapetastic monster.

*'''[[Thunderhawk|Thunderhawk Gunship]]''' - There is only one reason why you don't already have one, it costs a shitload of cash(£399), apart from this... small price... the Thunderhawk has virtually no downsides, at 700 points it's certainly expensive, and it doesn't have much armour (12,12,10) but it does have 3 structure points and is immune to the 'melta' special rule. It's title of gunship is well deserved, it has a turbo laser (yes a fucking strength D weapon with a 5" blast!!!), four twin-linked heavy Bolters, two Lascannons and 6 weapon pylons, which can contain bombs or Hellstrike missiles. It also has a "modest" transport capacity of 30, so you can hold an entire 10 man squad of Terminators in this thing AND a techmarine and servitors to keep the thing running (they ARE allowed to repair vehicles they're embarked on, awesome). You will almost never field more than one of these, fortunately, you only need one. The best way to use this vehicle is to get close combat Terminators right into the middle of the enemy's most dangerous shooting formation, then use the fearsome weapons on the gunship to destroy enemy vehicles that can insta-kill your guys, allowing your Terminators to destroy the shooty infantry and keep your grunts alive. Used properly this vehicle WILL make your opponent shit bricks, used improperly, it will do nothing but die uselessly as it gets pummeled by 700 points worth of enemy lascannons, rockets, missiles, battle cannon and lances, then it will explode and take the most of the rest of your army with it, because of this NEVER EVER keep it static, it's tempting to just hang back and pummel the enemies vehicles with the turbo laser, but don't.

*'''[[Thunderhawk|Thunderhawk Transporter]]''' - Get this if you if you have a burning desire to kneel down and sacrifice your money to the [[Chaos|gods of Games Workshop]]. It costs the same amount of cash as the regular thunderhawk, and you'll probably end up wishing you had one of those instead. It's not that the transporter is awful, the ability to fly in a [[Blood Angels|loaded up land raider and place it where you want]] is [[Awesome|cool]], you can even scoop up other vehicles while in hover mode without having to cease your movement. But unless you are playing on REALLY big gaming tables ''(we're talking the same size of games where Earthshaker guns run out of range.)'', there's no real need to do this and your Thunderhawk itself doesn't have much else to do with only a few heavybolters for its defense. Just get the regular Thunderhawk and for now and you'll feel less guilty.

*'''[[Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer]]''' - An odd superheavy tank. Its weapon is S10 AP1, but has no blast, so if you miss there's no consolation prize by accidentally wiping out a nearby unit ''(it is twin linked, so you're unlikely to miss)''. However, whatever it hits is [[rape|raped]]. It fires D3 shots every time it fires and anything that somehow survives a penetrating hit from it can only snap-fire next turn (including other superheavies... neutering that poor [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|emperor class titan]].) but if it fails a penetrate ROLL ''(glances are fine)'' or to-wound its target ''(remember it's a primary weapon, so already gets re-rolls)'', it instead damages itself by an automatic hull point on a further roll of 1. It can be given the standard predator sponsons or pintle mounted heavy weapons, but you're probably going to want to load up on anti-tank and leave anti infantry to your other units.

*'''[[Typhon Heavy Siege Tank]]''' - It's a giant vindicator. Cheaper and better armoured than the Fellblade and more reliable than the Cerberus. It fires off a 7" Blast S10 AP1 weapon, which ignores cover, and so will erase entire units on 2s unless they have invulnerable saves. Can also be equipped with sponsons like a predator and pintlemounted options including heavy bolters, or a multi-melta. And unlike the Cerberus, since your main gun doesn't fill an uber specialised role you can choose what you want and split your fire to shoot in all directions and pick your targets by relevance. Also give it armoured ceramite so it can never be killed by melta & lances.

*'''Masters of the Chapter''' - Azrael + 4-10 Captains + ''"Honour Guard"''. From the outset, this doesn't look like theres a lot going for it. Azrael's Lion Helm is made redundant since all the captains have Iron Halos, and unlike Codex Carines you don't get uber wargear to beef up your captains. However, since you don't have Honour Guard the same way as Codex Marines or Blood Angels do, you can improvise with the next best thing ("Forging the Narrative" in Apocalypse suggests taking the closest relevant unit)... ie: [[Deathwing|a Deathwing Command Squad]]. This is actually considerably harder now, since they all get 4++ saves from Azrael ''(saving some expense if you don't want Storm Shields)'', Feel No Pain from an Apothecary and use of good Standards and Champions.  Just don't add Sammael to the formation since it will screw him over.

*'''[[Deathwing|Deathwing Redemption Force]]''' - Belial and 6 Squads of regular Deathwing & 4 Squads of Deathwing Knights. This is one of the most badass formations available. You don't need "full" squads, so can get away with having a formation of around 50 men ''(which is therefore smaller than the 1st company formation)''. EVERYONE in the formation gets Rending USR on ALL attacks, shooting and melee, making them horrifying. Also, no-one can take look-out-sir rolls against this formation, so there is literally no-where to hide from these guys.

*'''[[Ravenwing|Ravenwing Huntmasters]]''' - 5 FULL Ravenqing Attack squadrons + 1 squad of Black Knights + as many Darkshrouds as you like. Both of the shrouds effect ranges are doubled for the game and also you may turbo-boost and still shoot once per game. It's an okay formation if you have enough Ravenwing, which is the problem. Thats a lot of bikes.

*'''Talon of Vengeance (Pandorax)''' - Even a dedicated apocalypse formation can't save Dark Angels from how poor their flyers are... You get 1 Nephilim and 2-4 Dark Talons. The Nephilim does nothing here, and the Dark Talons can combo their stasis bombs to lock enemy units out of the game temporarily. The length of time depending on how many bombs hit the unit. This formation isn't really worth it unless you're dropping all those bombs on a Reaver Titan or better to freeze it out of the game for a turn. The problem is that you only get one bomb per talon and the pay-off really doesn't change the game in any meaningful sense. ''Should have had greater effect like freezing units out permanently like Lukas the Trickster''

*'''Thunderhead Squadron (Pandorax)''' - 3 Darkshrouds, 1+ Vengeance & 1+ Support Squadron. Whenever 2 Shrouds are within 6" of each other your opponent will not be allowed to draw line of sight through the space between them. This is also close enough to grant stealth to each other for 2+ cover saves just by moving. In addition the whole formation gets shrouded and scout regardless of their position, so can be pretty cool.

*'''Suppression Force (Damnos)''' - Worth a good mention since you get 2+ Whirlwinds and a Land Speeder of your choice. Considering you get some pretty cool Land Speeder options, you could go with a Darkshroud for some survivability along with your unlimited range / twin-linked / double-shot Whirlwinds. Or you could go one better and take the Ravenwing Grand-Master's Land Speeder for AV14 & 4++ and its own twin-linked weapons.