Angel's Keep: A 40K Dark Angels Blog

. Hello, battle brothers! As we begin a new chapter in the evolution of 40K, I'd like to take a moment to review of our statistics in the meta. This is to give us an idea of how we've fared since our supplement  released, what's worked for us, and what hasn't. My information sources are the  Meta Dashboard at Stat-check.com , the  Meta Monday Report  for the last weekend before the Balance Dataslate and all its rules went live, and the  Player Ranking Page  at Best Coast Pairings. The Meta Dashboard and Meta Monday pages pool data from Grand Tournaments and larger events, while ITC Player Ranking also takes data from Rogue Trader Tournaments. Since the release of our book, Dark Angels players have made up 3% of the player population and GTs and larger events, for a total of 233 players. We've had a 43% win rate, which is dismal, tied for the lowest in the game with generic Space Marines, Deathwatch, and Tyranids. Dark Angels players represent only about 2% ...

  Hello battle brothers! Another week has come, and with it a new meta is upon us! However, the events of the past weekend represent the last of the old meta. According to Meta Monday, only one Dark Angels list placed highly over the weekend, so this will be a short one. The event the list placed at was the ITA 40K Singles GT 2024 in Ipswich Australia, where David Trueman of Virtus Veritas went 4-1 to score 5th out of 58. David brought an Ironstorm Spearhead to the event, but his Ironstorm looked a little different from the ones that we've come to expect. You can see his full list on BCP  here . The short version is below. Ipswich Tank Association Azrael Lieutenant with Combi-weapon Techmarine: Target Augury Web Techmarine: Master of Machine War Gliadiator Lancer Gladiator Reaper Gladiator Reaper Predator Destructor Predator Destructor Predator Destructor Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Vindicator Vindicator Callidus Assassin As...

 Hello battle brothers! We're on the verge of a new season of our beloved game, and with that comes the chance to take a fresh look at things. Today, I'd like to take another look at the Company of Hunters. You can read my review of it  here , and I stand by that review (the TLDR version: good detachment rule, meh enhancements, mediocre strats), but there are some aspects of the upcoming Pariah Nexus rules that have me thinking the CoH may have more play than it did under the Leviathan rules. If you haven't been paying attention and don't know what's coming, here's the  Goonhammer review  of the Pariah Nexus rules. I'd like to focus on a few aspects of them, and specifically how a Company of Hunters might function under them.  For starters there are 5 mission rules that give in-play advantages to Battleline units. Those rules are below. Swift Action – BATTLELINE units can perform an action after Advancing or Falling Back.  Stalwarts – BATTLELINE units are s...

Hello battle brothers! There were a lot of GTs over the weekend, which means we have a lot of lists to talk about! Ironstorms cropped up literally all over the world to carry the honor of The Lion against all comers, so we'll talk about those. And then there was one list that totally came out of left field, which I'll save for last because I find it the most interesting. We're going to start our journey in Atlantic City NJ, where they just held the Frontline Gaming ACO 2024 Warhammer 40K Champs supermajor. This was an 8-round event with 216 players, where Erik Rose went 5-3 and placed 53rd. That may not sound like much, but he was the top scoring Dark Angels player at the event, and his list won more games than any of the others I'm going to talk about, so I figured it earned a mention. As we've all come to expect, Erik played an Ironstorm Spearhead. You can see his list  here . The short version is below: GW is run by the fallen Azrael Lieutenant with combi-weapon:...

  Hello battle brothers! Yesterday I went to a Rogue Trader's Tournament at TJ's Cafe & Games in Milford MA, and I thought you might like to read about my experience with it. Before I get into it, I'd just like to plug the establishment a little. TJ's Cafe & Games is a wonderful shop for all one's nerdy needs, be it 40K, MtG, TTRPGs, board games, or what have you. They also have a selection of plushies and children's books for younger kids, and they have a wall dedicated to disc golf if you like to take light hikes while flinging frisbees - no shade, I kind of like it. As the name implies, they serve food on-site, so you can grab a bite to eat without leaving the establishment. And the establishment is quite large, with a separate room for tabletop wargaming that is respectable, with at least 15 tables. If you're anywhere near Milford MA, it's worth checking out. I'm lucky to live within an hour of the place, so I hit events there when my sch...

Hello battle brothers! Another weekend has gone by, and we have some lists to talk about! I actually have five lists I want to bring to your attention. Four of them, as you have probably already guessed, are Ironstorms. In an interesting twist, all four of these lists were played at the same event, and they all scored adjacent to each other, all of them going 4-1 and scoring 8th-11th out of 59 players at Branson Brawl 2024 in Branson MO.  The last list I had to dig for. It didn't appear in the Meta Monday listings, but I found it while I was scrolling through players at the German Super Major in Madamenweg Germany. No Dark Angels lists were in the top 20, or even the top 50, and I got to wondering if any DA armies were played at all. I finally found the first one in 77th place, which doesn't sound too impressive, but there were 403 players at the event, so 77th is actually a pretty fair showing, earned through a 3-1-1 record for the event. What's more, that list was a Fires...

  Hello, battle brothers! To round out my review of the supplement detachments, here is an article about the Inner Circle Task Force!  The Inner Circle Task Force is meant to represent the hammer of the Dark Angels legion  chapter, the Deathwing, and I wish I could tell you it's a better detachment than the Space Marine 1rst Company Task Force, but unfortunately statistics do not bear that out. According to the  Meta Dashboard  on Stat-check.com, since its introduction the ICTF has a 32% win rate, whereas over the same period the vanilla 1rst Company Task Force has a 43% win rate What went so wrong with the ICTF? I suppose it starts with the detachment rule, Vowed Target. Granting +1 to Wound is a powerful ability (it's what makes the Storm Speeder Thunderstrike sexy), but the terms and conditions on Vowed Target are very limiting. Only Deathwing Infantry can gain the benefit, and they only get it on enemy units on a particular objective chosen in the Command Ph...

Hello battle brothers! Another weekend has gone by, and it almost went without a Dark Angels list appearing in the top contenders, but there is one to talk about. At Dicehammer Open VII in Irvine CA, Stephen Corrales of Xenos Petting Zoo went 4-1 to take 7th out of 45 players. Of course, Stephen took an Ironstorm Spearhead, and despite my defense of them, a part of me said, "Ugh, another one." I was considering just glossing over it, but I figured I should at least look at it, and I was actually surprised by a few elements of the list. You can find it on BCP  here , but to save you the trouble the TLDR version is below. Black Iron Azrael Ancient in Terminator Armor Techmarine: Target Augury Web Techmarine: Adept of the Omnissiah Assault Intercessors with Jump Pack: 5 flying choppy boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky boys Ravenwing Darkshroud Redemptor Dreadnought Repulsor Executioner Repulsor Executioner Scout Squad Scout Squad Stormraven Gunship Wbirlwind When I looked ...

Hello battle brothers! I'd like to take the time to recount my experience attending the Ironweld Spring Assault GT the weekend of June 1-2 in Wakefield MA. Spring Assault wasn't a huge event, boasting 47 players, but it was an opportunity to get in five games over the course of two days, and it was close enough to drive up on Saturday, so I took the opportunity to attend. I'll go over my game track, discuss what worked well, what I struggled with, and talk about what I'm going to do with it going forward.  For my list, I modified the list I detailed in my previous post entitled  One List, 27 Bikes . The version of the list I used is on BCP, which you can view  here.  To spare you having to click on the link, here's the quick-and-dirty version. DA Ravenwing Concept List v2.31  (I should come up with catchier names for my lists) Azrael Ravenwing Command Squad: Fire Discipline Ravenwing Command Squad Tactical Squad: 10 old boys Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Scout Squa...