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

===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.