Chapter Update: 7/28/2025
The event winning list was played at Ironforged I, a 5-round, 32 player event held in Umeå, Sweden. Tim Nordin of Draknästet SK took the top spot with his Stormlance Task Force! Way to go Tim! You can see Tim's list on BCP. Our discussion of it is below.
Wings of Purpouse - Dark Angels - Stormlance Task Force
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Ravenwing Command Squad: Hunter's Instincts
Ravenwing Command Squad: Feinting Withdrawal
Ravenwing Command Squad
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Invader ATV: melta buggy
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Ravenwing Black Knights: 6 awesome plasma biker boys
Ravenwing Black Knights: 6 awesome plasma biker boys
Ravenwing Black Knights: 6 awesome plasma biker boys
Ravenwing Darkshroud
It's kind of ironic that the bike detachment with all the strats that buff bike units is most often played with hardly any bikes in it. It's nice to see a list use the bike units and do well. Boy does it have a lot of them too - 37 counting the Invader. I'm a little surprised to not see Sammael in it, but he doesn't compare well to a Ravenwing Command Squad in a detachment that provides the ability to Advance and either shoot or charge or both.
Once again we see a trio of Ravenwing Command Squads, with both a trio of Outrider Squads and a trio of Black Knight squads to potentially attach them to, allowing Tim some ability to customize his list to his opponent at the table. If he's facing a lot of elite 3-wound infantry, he can attach them to Outrider Squads to have a lot of 3-damage attacks to deal with them. If he's facing an army full of big stuff, he can attach them to the Ravenwing Knights to max out on plasma delivery and Anti-Big Thing Dev Wound close combat attacks.
Tim also packed Lion Dad into the list. He's got more utility in this list than he would in most, because he can provide the plasma bike squads that 4+ Feel No Pain against their own Hazardous rolls. He doubtless cuts down on Hazardous casualties a lot, as a 3-wound Black Knight would only have to pass one FNP roll to stay on the table.
Azrael doesn't have a really exciting role in this list. It looks like he's mostly going to sit on the backfield attached to the Intercessors minding the home objective until opponents have committed their Reserves. The Stormlance has a lot of good stratagems, so I'm sure Tim made good use of the CP he generates. Also having him attached to those Intercessors means an opponent isn't going to pick up that unit with casual effort.
I don't love the Darkshroud because I'm dubious of how effective it actually is. It does let you play mind games with your opponent though. You can cover a number of units within its radius of effect, and leave one out on purpose. Then, when your opponent goes to shoot the exposed unit, play Ride Hard, Ride Fast on it so their shooting is at -1 To Hit and To Wound. Also, it can do actions for you without compromising the reason you brought it, providing an additional utility unit for the points.
For enhancements, Tim went with Hunter's Instincts, allowing him to bring a unit in from Reserves turn 1, and in his opponent's deployment zone Turn 2. He also took Feinting Withdrawal, so that unit can shoot after it Falls Back. The latter strikes me as Tim having 10 points left to spend and nothing left to spend them on. I'm a little surprised he didn't take Fury of the Storm, but he evidently decided it wasn't important enough to not take something else.
Ironforged I used WTC scoring, so 0-20 spread, 10-10 is a tie, every point more/less represents a difference in score of 5 Battle Points. 1st round Tim crushed an Iron Hands Gladius 20-0. 2nd round he similarly brutalized a T'au Mont'ka 20-0. 3rd round he continued his rampage, savaging Champions of Contagion Death Guard 20-0. 4th round was a much closer game, 12-8 against Grand Coven Thousand Sons. 5th round he finished his nonstop trip on the win train with a 15-5 against Haloscreed Mechanicus. Well done Tim!
Our next list was played at Weekend Wars VII - Major - WCW Qualifier Event, a 5-round, 43 player event held in Altenholz, Germany. Sebastian Köhler of Groundzero Kiel played a Gladius Task Force and took 2nd place. Here's Sebastian's list on BCP. And here's the quick-and-dirty version for discussion
DA: Der König der Möwen Lion Dad - Warlord Azrael Bladeguard Ancient Lieutenant with Combi-weapon 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 Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys Predator Annihilator Predator Annihilator Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Vanguard Veteran Squad with Jump Packs: 5 awesome flying choppy boys
This list harkens back to when the top played DA detachment was the Gladius, built around the robust core of 3 units of Deathwing Knights with some shooting support. Predator Annihilators wouldn't have often made the cut then, but it's been buffed since then and often appears in competitive lists now.
Lion Dad wouldn't have often made it into a competitive list back then, but it did occasionally happen, and his new ability to uppy-downy does grant a Dark Angels player more ability to use him to force opponents to make difficult decisions. It's also nice that he comes with Wrathhuman Physiology built in.
Azrael is evidently leading the Inner Circle Companions, and that's never a bad choice. There are some fairly typical utility units everyone is already familiar with. The Bladeguard Ancient is an interesting addition. I suspect his job is to sit on the backfield objective and hold it for as few points as possible. I'm pretty confident he's the cheapest unit we have available.
Weekend Wars VII was another event used WTC scoring. 1st round Sebastian crushed Hammer Militarum 20-0. 2nd round he manhandled Berserker World Eaters 17-3. 3rd round he hammered Lords of Dread Chaos Knights 20-0. 4th round was a solid 15-5 win against Noble Lance Knights. 5th round was his loss, a bruising 5-15 against Bridgehead Militarum played by the event winner. Scoring 2nd is still a very respectable result. Well done Sebastian!
The other three lists I'm going to cover in detail are all Wrath of the Rock lists. Two of them were played at Boise Cup 40K 2025, a 5-round, 76 player event held in Boise, Idaho. The first was played by Shaun Sharp of #REKT, who went 4-1 and took 6th place. Here's Shaun's list on BCP.
Me Rock! Me Angry! Lion Dad - Warlord Azrael Sammael Captain: Ancient Weapons Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Sternguard Veteran Squad: 5 awesome bolter boys Invader ATV: melta buggy Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys Ballistus Dreadnought Ballistus Dreadnought
Man, I feel seen, because Shaun's list is very similar to mine. Once again, we have Lion Dad. I did just watch a whole YouTube video on how Lion Dad is a key component to playing into Death Guard, and he does provide a means to put pressure on your opponent from unexpected directions. I think we can safely say he's a competitive choice. There's the two squads of Deathwing Knights that are typical to see in a Wrath list. There's Azrael, who evidently is being paired with the Inner Circle Companions, which is never a bad choice. The Ancient Weapons Captain is getting paired with the Sternguard Squad so he can get rerolls To Wound on his go turn, which is also a solid choice. To provide another source of 3-damage melee attacks, there's Sammael and a unit of Outriders to attach him to. Sammy is arguably our second-best melee character, and the Outrider buff for charging makes him even better. It gives Shaun a unit he can move fast to put pressure where he needs it without having to spend CP to get Advance and Charge.
For utility units, there's Intercessors for backfield objective duty. Because they sticky it, they can leave it when opponents have committed their Reserves resources and move out to pitch in midfield. Scouts and the ATV round out the list as Secondary scorers. I'm just surprised to not see a Combi-Lieutenant in the list.
1st round Shaun crushed Chaos Renegade Raiders 92-32. 2nd round he drubbed Shadow Legion Daemons 99-66. 3rd round he similarly bodied Combined Arms Militarum 100-64. 4th round he took his loss, 60-92 against Lions Custodes. He bounced back in the 5th round for a close 93-89 against Awakened Dynasty Necrons. Well done Shaun!
The other Boise Cup list was played by Marcus Walker of COUNTER-STRIKE, who went 4-1 and placed 9th. Here's Marcus' list on BCP. We'll look at the short version below.
Marcus' list Azrael - Warlord Captain with Jump Pack: Ancient Weapons Librarian: Tempered in Battle Lieutenant with Combi-weapon Centurion Devastator Squad: 3 chonky las-missile boys Centurion Devastator Squad: 3 chonky las-missile boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Infiltrator Squad: 5 stay-off-my-lawn boys Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Sternguard Veteran Squad: 10 awesome bolter boys Vanguard Veterans with Jump Packs: 5 awesome flying choppy boys Vanguard Veterans with Jump Packs: 5 awesome flying choppy boys
Ah Centurion Devastators! How I wish I'd liked you when you were released in 6th edition! They're probably the best unit to play Relics of the Dark Age on, but they're a Firstborn unit whose aesthetic doesn't really vibe with the Primaris look, so I think smart money is on them getting dropped from the 11th edition codex. I suppose it's nice that they get one last hurrah at the end of 10th edition. If you happen to have some, by all means play them in this detachment. Each of these squads can chuck out three Strength 13 twin-linked lascannon shots and 3D3+Blast Strengh 11 AP -2 Damage D3 shots. Their shooting rerolls 1's To Hit, becoming full rerolls against targets on Objectives. They even have kind of okay melee, with each having 3 Strength 5 AP -1 Damage 2 attacks.
Another interesting thing about Marcus' list is the inclusion of a full squad of Sternguard, a full squad of ICCs, Azrael, and a Librarian, and I legit don't know who gets paired with what, because cases can be made either way. The Librarian's Focused Smite profile would benefit from and synergize well with being in the Sternguard squad, but at the same time so does Azrael's Lion's Wrath attacks. Azrael is basically who Sternguard all aspire to be when they grow up, so he goes with them like peanut butter with jam. He also makes them a proper melee threat, which the Librarian doesn't really do. I think the Librarian probably goes with the ICCs, because while they benefit more from having Azrael attached to them, I don't think they benefit as much more as the Sternguard do, and while the Librarian doesn't buff their damage output much, they don't really need him to. They just need a character attached to them that provides that 4++ save. and the Librarian does that.
Marcus paid the extra 10 points to field a couple squads of Vanguard Veterans instead of Jump Intercessors. They've got better close combat attacks and can carry storm shields, so it's not hard to see why he'd do that. Interestingly, he chose to include a Jump Pack Captain. I legit had to look up what his datasheet ability is, because I can't recall the last time I've seen one in a Dark Angels list. For the record, in addition to the strat discount ability, he provides his unit's melee weapons +1 Strength on the charge. That's nice for the Van Vets I suppose, increasing them to Strength 6, but their datasheet ability provides Lethal Hits, so I think the Jump Captain's ability mostly benefits himself. With a thunder hammer and the Ancient Weapons enhancement, he's swinging Strength 11 on the charge. He's actually kind of reminiscent of the 9th ed Smash Captain.
For utility units, Marcus has a variety of the usual suspects. Intercessors for the home objective. Scouts for uppy-downy secondary scoring. The Combi-Lieutenant for secondary scoring. Tried and true reliable units.
Marcus crushed his 1st round opponent, Oathband Votann, 87-37. 2nd round he similarly brutalized Imperial Knights 98-48. 3rd round he took his loss, a discouraging 70-96 against an Ultramarines Gladius. After a good night's sleep, he returned ready to murderface Combined Arms Militarum 100-51 in the 4th round. He ended strong, handing Kauyon T'au a 5th round 100-54 drubbing. Well done Marcus!
The last list I'm going to cover was played at the North East Open 2025, a 5-round, 104-player event held in Gateshead, England. Pearce Condren of Try Hard Wargaming went 4-1 and took 11th place. Here's Pearce' list on BCP. The short version is below.
Rock Block Lion Dad - Warlord Azrael Captain: Ancient Weapons Librarian in Phobos Armour Lieutenant with Combi-weapon Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter 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 Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Infiltrator Squad: 5 stay-off-my-lawn boys Sternguard Veteran Squad: 5 awesome bolter boys Sternguard Veteran Squad: 5 awesome bolter boys
This list is kind of a nonverbal way of saying to opponents "You can do what you want on those two objectives over there, but these three here are mine." Pearce went with the full three Deathwing Knights squads AND Lion Dad. After that, the list is mostly supplemental and utility. He's got Azrael and the Ancient Weapons Captain with a couple small squads of Sternguard so both characters can reroll for Dev Wounds in the Fight phase, Intercessors to sit on and sticky the backfield objective, Infiltrators with the Phobos Librarian to zone out whatever third of the board Pearce doesn't want enemy units entering reserves from in, and a couple squads of Jump Intercessors and the Combi-Lieutenant for scoring secondaries. That really is kind of the game we choose to play with a Wrath of the Rock detachment, and this list will play that game very well.
1st round Pearce started strong with a comfortable 96-70 win against Liberator Blood Angels. 2nd round he had a close 88-82 win against Haloscreed Mechanicus. 3rd round he took his loss, 62-75 against Morty Ham Death Guard. 4th round he came back swinging, bodying Lions Custodes 82-47. 5th round he ended strong with a solid 93-65 against Aspect Host Aeldari. Good job Pearce!
There are two more lists that went 4-1 over the weekend I'd like to give honorable mentions to. The first was Jay Seebarun's Gladius Task Force he used to take 3rd place at the Summer Swordwind GT in England. The second was Cody Hogge's Wrath of the Rock list he used to take 5th place at the Fleur-De-Lis GT in St. Louis Missouri. You can check out their lists on BCP via the links. Well done brothers!
Statistics
It was a better weekend for Dark Angels than we've had in a while. There were 45 Dark Angels players who played 220 games and scored a 49% win rate. We had 7 X/0-X/1 results and 1 event win. The event win was the first one we've had in a month. Our Rep Score is 0.86, which is okay, certainly the best we've had since I've started keeping track of it.
The most played detachment by far, with twice as many players as all the others combined, was Wrath of the Rock, with 31 players who scored a 47% win rate and earned 4 of the X-results.
The second most played was the Stormlance, with 6 players who netted a 52% win rate and our 1 event win.
Third in number of players was the Gladius, with 5 players who netted a solid 61% win rate and 2 X-results.
Two players played Company of Hunters lists and earned a 60% win rate.
One iconoclast played an Unforgiven Task Force and netted a 40% win rate.
Factions/Detachments To Watch Out For
Death Guard are topping my list in this category, with 95 players who scored a 56% win rate, netting 31 X-results and 4 event wins. Their Rep Score is 1.81, which is nuts. The MortHam and VirVec detachments each hand 35 players, with MortHam getting 10 X-results and 2 event wins and VirVec getting 9 X-results.
Thousand Sons and Aeldari were on the upswing last weekend, with 49 TSons players who scored a 54% win rate and racked up 13 X-results. They had a 1.47 Rep Score. 11 of those X-results were netted by the 40 players who played the Grand Coven detachment.
Aeldari had 55 players who scored a 53% win rate and netted 10 X-results and 4 event wins. They had a reasonable 1.01 Rep Score. Aspect Host (55% WR) and Warhost (53% WR) split most of those players and high results between them.
Chaos Knights continue to be a force in the meta, with 77 players, a 53% win rate, 15 X-results, and a Rep Score of 1.08. A little less than half of the players used the Infernal Lance (62% WR), and they took 11 of those X-results.
Imperrial Knights are not far behind their traitoris brethren, with 66 players, a 53% win rate, and 9 X-results. Their Rep Score of 0.76 is actually a little lower than ours for once.
That, esteemed battle brethren, is what I have for you. Be sure to check out Dank List Wargaming and Black Crow Gaming for some YouTube analysis and advice. As always, I hope you find my work enjoyable and informative. May you strive ever for glorious victory. For The Lion!
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