Angel's Keep: A 40K Dark Angels Blog

Hello battle brethren! I decided to try something new over the weekend. I've had an idea in the back of my head since some time before the recent Munitorum Field Manual update, and there were a few points changes that made it a little more tempting, so I decided to give it a try.  My goofy idea is that the Company of Hunters may actually have some play. I've previously written an article about how Pariah Nexus may have breathed some life into the CoH, so I decided to give that a test. And what a test it was - I played it for the first time at The Portal Fall GT, which was not a big event, but the people who showed up came to play. The event winner was LVO winner Sam Pope, and the upper end of the rankings are all people who can give him a challenging game. Maybe not the best event to try a list for the first time, but it was an opportunity to play 5 games in two days. You can check out my list on BCP, and I'll post the short version below. Secret Missions Are Fun! Sammael...

Hello battle brethren! It's been the first full week of the new meta, and it appears as a group we've taken the points adjustments, adapted, and are continuing to see reasonable success with our armies. We didn't have any event winners, but we had 8 players go X-0/X-1, so we have a bit to talk about.  The biggest event of the weekend was The Coventry 40K: 3-day, an 8-round, 144 player event held in Coventry, England. Louis Ballington of Mind Goblins took a Stormlance and went 6-2, scoring 14th and placing in the top 10% of the event. You can check out Louis' list on BCP. The short version is below. Lion Lance Lion Dad Azrael Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 choppy boys Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Infiltrator Squad: 5 sneaky boys Predator Destructor Predator Destructor Predator Destructor Scout Squad: 5 s...

Hello battle brethren! This weekend saw the last remnants of the pre-nerf lists compete, and some post-nerf lists too. It wasn't a fantastic week for Dark Angels players, but we did have an event win, and three other lists that placed well, so let's take a look at them! Let's start with our event winner, Jeremy Capko of Macragge's Crabshack who took an Ironstorm Spearhead to go all the way at the Blade & Bolter GT: Planet Anime Kansas City event in Kansas City MO, a 24-player, 5 round event. It's kind of a throwback to 2023 to see a DA Ironstorm take the top slot, but it looks like Jeremy went back to the drawing board to come up with something new for the new meta. You can see Jeremy's list on BCP. The short version is below. I wish this was a maid cafe tactical game instead. Moe Moe Kyun Lion Dad Techmarine: Target Augury Web Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys Ballistus Dre...

Hello battle brethren! Games Workshop broke precedent and released updated points on a Wednesday. Unfortunately, it's not great news for us. Azrael and Deathwing Knights went up, as did Jump Intercessors, Eradicators, the Apothecary Biologis, and the Fire Discipline enhancement. All told, the Lennon List went up 120~ points. That's pretty rough. We can take some consolation in the fact that the lists at the top of the meta all took hits, so our matchups into them will likely remain about the same. Nonetheless, we are obliged to go back to the drawing board to adapt our lists. I'd already been putting some thought into that,  For point of reference, I'm going to outline the Lennon List below, because it's been the standard against which I've been comparing lists to for a while, and it contains all of the units that GW smacked. Then we'll discuss the units that got points increases and what would be potential alternatives. The Lennon List Azrael Apothecary Bio...

  Hello battle brethren! It was kind of a slow week for 40K, with what would have been the biggest event of the weekend, the GW Open, cancelled due to Hurricane Milton. We still have a couple brethren that did well at the events they attended, so let's take a look at the lists they played. With the GW Open being rained out, the biggest event of the weekend was the Battle For Salvation GT in West Nyack, NY, a 6-round, 112-person event. A Dark Angels Gladius Task Force played by Shaun Reynolds went 5-1 and placed 5th overall, which is not too shabby! You can see Shaun's list on BCP. The short version is below. BFS Azrael Apothecary Biologis: Fire Discipline Judiciar Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 choppy boys Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Deathw...

 Hello battle brethren! Meta Monday is being a little slow with the weekend's results, so I figured I'd better stop waiting for them and start looking for the high performing lists myself.  It was a slow weekend anyway, with only 2 Dark Angels lists placing well enough to be of note. Going through the GTs on BCP as they appear, the first Dark Angels list that rates a mention was played at the Alba GT 2024, played at (and I'm copy-pasting this from BCP): 10 Fő utca, Székesfehérvár, 8000, Magyarország in Hungary.  This was a 70 player, 5 round event. Daniel Orosz of Cult of Dice went 4-1 with his Gladius and scored 7th overall. You can see Daniel's list on BCP. The short version is below. Angels in Wolf's Skin Azrael Apothecary Biologis: Fire Discipline Judiciar Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 choppy boys Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying ch...

Hello battle brothers! The last weekend of September had a lot of events, including the massive London Grand Tournament! As you can imagine, that means there are a lot of lists to go through, so let's get started! The biggest event of the weekend by far was The London Grand Tournament - 40K Main Event, a 5-10 round, 834 person event. Four Dark Angels lists made the top 10 percent, so let's talk about those first. The top scoring list was played by Louis Ballington of Mind Goblins, who bucked the trend, went 5-1, and placed 14th with a Stormlance Task Force! You can check out Louis' list on BCP. The short version is below. Acies Triplex Stormlance Azrael Judiciar Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 choppy boys Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Deat...