Unit Overviews: Elites

Codex Dark angels comes with 5 elite choices.  All of them have strengths and weaknesses.  But we definitely have a couple of stand outs that I will find room for in many lists.  Once again 6th edition really helped a couple of these choices.


Deathwing Terminator Squads:
I really love the Deathwing Terminator Squads.  While they are a little more expensive than other terminators, they have so many more advantages.

For one, with Belial in an army, they gain the ability to become troops.  This makes for a very hard to shift scoring unit.  And thanks to Belial, you have the ability to make a "command squad".  The benefits of this can not be over stated as Terminator armor got a huge boost in melee thanks to AP3 and AP4 Power Weapons.  There are simply less weapons out there now that can go through terminator armor, and adding an apothecary to a squad of these makes them even harder.  In 5th edition I usually only took these in pure Deathwing or "Black and White" lists, but I think I'll be using these a lot more as support for my Greenwing lists.

Another obvious benefit is the fact that these guys are Fearless.  Add into that the ability to take mixed squads of Assault and Shooty Terminators and you have the potential of making a very formidable unit that can either be specialized for one role or made to provide support in multiple roles.  They also make a great bodyguard unit for your characters.

The only real disadvantage to these guys is their numbers.  Unfortunately, as awesome as they are, they are only fielded as 5 man squads.  While this is a disadvantage, I do not see this outweighing the benefits, and this would rarely even be a consideration at lower point games, as a unit of 10 would be very expensive indeed.  They also lack an inherent transport option, but I do not see this as that big of a disadvantage since you can still purchase a Land Raider as a Heavy Support choice and mount these guys in it.

Scout Squads:
Scouts are an interesting choice for elites in the Dark Angels codex.  They outshine their vanilla marine counterparts in couple of ways, but lack a lot of things that vanilla marine scouts get.  I have tried them in 6th edition, and honestly, am still undecided on them.

The main advantages of Dark Angels scouts is their stat line.  They have the benefit of a standard marine stat line, meaning they shoot better and fight better than vanilla scouts.  This increase in BS, especially, makes Dark Angels scouts mean with a sniper rifle.  This same increase in the WS of a Dark angels scout, also makes them a viable option for disrupting enemy lines with an assault.  The Dark Angels scouts also have the infiltrate rule, which is helpful.  While standard vanilla marine scouts have this same rule, I think infiltrate is actually more beneficial to Dark Angels scouts specifically because of their increased stats.  Unfortunately, with the nerf to Infiltrate, I can no longer use them to tear through enemy vehicles with a melta bomb or Power Fist like I used to.

The biggest disadvantage of scouts is the fact that they are not scoring.  Also, and probably more of an issue, they lack Stealth and cannot be given camo cloaks which makes them much less survivable.  There are also fewer wargear options.  This is especially felt with the Dark angels Heavy Bolter compared to the specialized vanilla marine scout heavy bolter.

All this being said, scouts don't seem to be a bad choice in comparison with the rest of the Dark Angels list.  I am still not sold on them, but will likely try them out a few more times.  Sniper rifles got a bit of a boost in 6th edition, but I still haven't seen my scouts pay for themselves with sniper rifles.

Dreadnought:
Dark Angels dreadnoughts simply are no where near as good as their counterparts.  I know I make a lot of comparisons to the other codices, but with Dreadnoughts, this is felt fairly acutely.

The biggest issue here is cost.  Dark Angels Dreadnoughts are more expensive than other armies' dreadnoughts (at least in most configurations).  They also are inferior to other Elite choices in the Dark Angels codex in my opinion.  I tried Dreadnoughts a lot in 5th edition, and I could never really get them to pay off for me.  Where as Deathwing and Veterans paid for themselves and then some in almost every game, the dreadnought underperformed most of the time.  Unfortunately as well, there is no separate stat line for Venerable Dreadnoughts in the Dark Angels codex.  While the Venerable is more survivable than a standard dreadnought, it just is too expensive for what it actually does on the battlefield.  And don't get me started on our lack of additional shooting weapons beyond the missile launcher.  I mean really, Dark Angels are known for the Mortis Dreadnought, and we can't even field it!

Now, the dreadnought did get a little more of a boost in 6th edition, but it was hurt just as badly.  The increase in potential charge range was a huge benefit, but with the boost in grenades, this is a double-edged sword.  And I think, in the end, that the Dreadnought is simply not worth it.

Company Veteran Squads:
This unit is by far one of my favorites in the Dark Angels codex.  While one can argue that Sternguard and Vanguard are better, Dark angels Veterans retain a lot more versatility and are very cost effective.  I have found a place for veterans in a lot of my lists, and I often tool them up much like I would a command squad, making them a good counter charge unit or tar pit.

While they are not scoring like Deathwing can be, and while they lack the survivability of Terminators or command squads, they can pack just as much of a punch, if not more.  For one, you can go crazy with specialized melee weapons and special weapons. Especially with a large squad of these guys, this makes them potentially the hardest hitting melee unit in the Dark Angels Codex.  And in shooting they can provide a nasty surprise for many armies if equipped right.

I love their versatility.  In one unit you can make an assault monster or you can make the ultimate anti-tank hunting squad or horde killer.  Imagine taking a squad with 10 flamers, or 10 meltas, or even 10 plasma.  And then of course the same applies for power weapons, or you can mix between shooting and melee.  And then to top all of this off, you can combat squad the unit as well.

And, most importantly, all of this for 10 more points than a tactical squad if you are talking about 5 men, or 35 more points for a full ten man squad of these guys.  Even if you don't go crazy with specials, you are still talking about a unit with 3-4 attacks on the charge per model and the ability to take a Heavy weapon in a 5-man squad, which actually comes out cheaper then the Tactical squad with a heavy weapon, since the Tactical squad has to take 10 men to unlock the Heavy Weapon option.

Techmarines:
Finally, we have the Techmarine.  I'll be honest and say I have very little experience using Techmarines.  I own two, including one with a full Servo Harness, but I just found them to be underwhelming.  I tended to take them only if I didn't really know where else to spend the points and only when fielding an already expensive Heavy Support vehicle or dreadnought.  The few times I did take them, I found them to be virtually useless (especially since I really didn't want to dump the points into a bunch of servitors).  And of course, these guys are so much worse than Vanilla Techmarines.  Even with the few buffs we get in the stat line, the bottom line is, we pay for it.  Ours are much more expensive and honestly, even when I have "extra points" I tend to spend them on wargear upgrades for other units.  I will admit, with the new FAQ, it looks like they could make vehicles much more survivable, but since I am dropping my mechanized list and going to a much heavier infantry list, this isn't really a selling point for me.  I am open to others' opinions on these guys, but I doubt I'll be using these guys anytime soon.