3 Reasons I Am Tinkering With A Ravenwing List

I admit, the latest Dark Angels Codex for Warhammer 40K is killing me.

On the first read, it struck me as solid, if perhaps just a tiny but lackluster. The more I page through it, not least to come up with a “verdict” for a review of sorts, the more I find myself tinkering with the options. Thanks, in parts, to the choice of unique Special Issue Wargear, Chapter Relics and Sacred Standards, as well as some of the unorthodox ways to pick a unit, that book is bringing out my list-building fancy (which, it should be noted, is not my strong suit).

3 Things that Drew me to the Ravenwing

Why Ravenwing?

As much as I am not a Dark Angels player, I am also not (so far) a big fan of Space Marine bikes. Then again, this just might be the strong suit of the 6th Edition Dark Angels Codex. I do have a soft spot for Space Marine Land Speeders, however.

#1 – Sammael

Discussing the various Dark Angels Special Characters, I talked about Sammael already. He easily stands out from the quintet, being the only one with Eternal Warrior, a nasty AP2 Sword and, not least, the unique flavour of the only Space Marine on a Jetbike.

While, for example, Belial has his counterparts among other First Captains, or Azrael his among other Chapter Masters, there simply isn’t another character quite like Sammael (Khan, perhaps, could be the next-best thing).

#2 – Darkshroud, Jink and Unit Synergy

In 6th Edition, all bikes get the Hammer of Wrath, Relentless and Jink special rules. Given the low model-count of a Ravenwing army, the last one, providing a 5+ is a major help in keeping the bikes alive. It helps that it chimes well with Skilled Rider (hello Black Knights!), Turbo Boost and Stealth. For the latter, there is the Land Speeder Darkshroud.

I am a real sucker for unit synergy on the battlefield, the (far more elegant) counterpart to repetitive spam. Removing Lash of Submission is one thing I still mourn in the new Chaos codex.

So making the Darkshroud + Jink combination work would be wicked, though it might not work all that well (if you have experience with that combo, let me know).

Adding an Assault Cannon seems tempting (what’s a Heavy Bolter good for anyway?), but it is probably wise to keep the Darkshroud cheap and “non-threatening”.

#3 – Ravenwing Black Knights

Ravenwing Black Knights are plain cool. Plasma Talons, Corvus Hammer, Skilled Rider (which normal Ravenwing bikes don’t get). The Ravenwing elite is both flavourful, packs lots of potential damage and comes with nice new models. As Sammael’s entourage, they fit perfectly.

• Free Ravenwing Grenade launcher: Though the price is trading plasma talons, I’d probably take it. It adds range and, if needed, some much-needed templates (aside from Sammael’s Plasma Cannon). Without Standard of Devastation shenanigans, it’ll be useful.
• Power Weapon: I will leave it. These guys aren’t supposed to stick around in combat, and Sammael is there to help too. 
• I considered a Ravenwing Command Squad for the nice banners. The Standard of Fortitude in particular came recommended. However, for its point costs, I can simply get two more Black Knights, so I opted for more bodies instead.

With hit & run, plasma and (hopefully some Darkshroud enhanced) skilled rider, they should make a nice escort for Sammael.

Trying a 1500 Points List

There are probably good arguments to not do Ravenwing “exclusively”, but to add a few other elements to it to round it out. I might actually do that (not least to get the most from a Dark Vengeance box). As this is (currently) only an experiment, I’ll keep it black power-armour only now.

Some thoughts.

• The Ravenwing Combat Squad rule still puzzles me. I get lots of Attack Bikes and Land Speeders out of it, even though they work separately on the table. Probably too many 1 model kill points running around there, but I thought I’d try to squeeze in what I can.
• Though the Attack Bikes are probably the smarter addition (scoring!), I wanted to add a few Land Speeders. One, because they are cool (it’s Ravenwing!). Second, because I didn’t want the Darkshroud to be the only one. 
• Nephilim Jetfighter, as noted above, likely isn’t the tournament gamers first choice. I still wanted to have one to intercept other flyers. It’s not going to stop an all-out 3 Heldrake-list, but it’ll keep “casual-list” flyers from trumping this list by virtue of being flyers.

So much for today. I’ll head back to my Codex to play around with it some more. That book is certainly growing on me!

Let me know what you think!

Z.