Chapter Update 9/22/2025
Since I buried the lead, I might as well get right into it. Arguably the best-performing list of the weekend was played at Invasion 2025 40k, a 6-round, 107 player event held in Norway (the event listing was not more specific than that). Jonathan Arkin of Happy Krumping Wargaming went 5-1 and took 4th place. You can check out Jonathan's list on BCP. We'll discuss it below.
Wrathful Way
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Ancient in Terminator Armour: Deathwing Assault
Captain in Gravis Armour: Ancient Weapons
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Desolation Squad: 5 steely-eyed missileman boys
Inceptor Squad: 3 chonky flying plasma boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Gladiator Lancer
Gladiator Lancer
Impulsor
There's a lot to talk about in this list, but let's get the conventional stuff out of the way first. Units we generally expect to see are Lion Dad, Azrael, Inner Circle Companions, Scouts, the Combi-weapon Lieutenant, and Deathwing Knights. It's interesting to see only one unit of Deathwing Knights in this list. It's also common to see some manner of long-ranged shooting units. With the unwarranted points bump to Ballisti, I suspect we'll see Lancers more often, and they are certainly a good shooting platform.
Now we're going to move on to the unconventional, and the elephant in that particular room is the Desolation Squad. These guys are not a well thought of unit for good reason. They're literally 40 points a pop for a standard 2-wound Primaris body, which is ridiculous. They pay an excessive premium for the privilege of having a kind of mediocre ability to fire out of line of sight. They do also have ehh-decent direct fire shooting, but not so much for the cost. I suppose they give Jonathan something to play Relics of the Dark Age on, and it is nice to have something that can hit targets hidden from sight, but yikes.
The rest of Jonathan's list isn't nearly as unusual. He's got a Gravis Captain sporting Ancient Weapons just running around solo smacking things, which we see from time to time. He also gives Jonathan the option of playing a discounted Inescapable Justice for that second Oath. The squad of Incursors isn't an unusual choice either, buffing shooting into a particular target. Inceptors aren't too hard to understand either, with the 6" Deep Strike and twin-linked plasma exterminators.
It is a little unusual to see the Impulsor, as the Wrath detachment doesn't allow any unique transport shenanigans, but it's not a bad unit all by itself, and it does provide another unit some extra protection and mobility. I'm guessing the the Desolators ride in the Impulsor by default, as their datasheet ability is kind of trash so Jonathan's not losing out much by having them in it, but a case could be made for the Incursors, or possibly even the Combi-Lieutenant, though I kind of expect that guy's job is to mind the backfield objective.
Finally, there's the Terminator Ancient. It's not hard to understand wanting a character with Deathwing Assault, but I find it hard to believe this guy's Astartes Banner ability makes him the best of the three base-75 point options. Jonathan could have gotten the Terminator Chaplain for the same points, and attached him to a unit with swords for the extra attacks. I suppose it's possible he doesn't have a unit with swords, but in that case there's the Terminator Librarian, who brings Smite, Sustained Hits 1, and a 4+ Feel No Pain against Psychic attacks. All that said, what Jonathan can do with this combo is have the squad Deep Strike within striking distance of his opponent's expansion objective, and either charge the unit on it if he rolls well, or possibly lala-charge it in his opponent's turn. Either way, opponents have to contend with the possibility that he can put a very tough 12 OC on their expansion objective.
It could be that Jonathan's list worked so well precisely because it was somewhat unconventional. What is inarguable is that it did work quite well. Not only did he get an X/1 result, but he also had a 4-0 event start. In the 1st round he got off to a good start, crushing Oathband Votann 99-40. 2nd round he handed out a similar 100-40 brutalizing to Conceited Emperor's Children. 3rd round he scored a comfortable 94-73 against Invasion Nids. 4th round was a decent 80-56 against Infernal Chaos Knights. 5th round he took his loss, but not by much - 72-79 against Index Knights. 6th round he ended strong, spanking VirVec Death Guard 100-39. Well done Jonathan!
Our next list was played at Crucible Grand Tournament 2025, a 7-round, 126 player event held in Orlando, Florida. It's a little unusual in that it's not an X/0-X/1 result - it went 5-2, which I'd ordinarily give an honorable mention to. However, no one went undefeated at this event, and this list took 5th place. This yeomanly effort was made by Kody Drake of Rogue Runners, and he did it with a Wrath of the Rock list. Here's Kody's list on BCP. We'll look at it below.
Wrath
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Captain in Terminator Armour: Deathwing Assault
Judiciar: Ancient Weapons
Centurion Devastator Squad: 3 super-chonky shooty boys
Centurion Devastator Squad: 3 super-chonky shooty boys
Centurion Devastator Squad: 3 super-chonky shooty boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Right off the bat, the most wild thing about this list is the complete lack of any of the usual utility units - not even so much as a squad of Intercessors to sit on the backfield objective. Kody went all-in on units that kill stuff, so much so that I suspect the probably doesn't leave a unit on his backfield objective, and instead just goes all-in on taking the midfield objectives. It does make me wonder what he does if he winds up playing Linchpin though. Alternately, maybe he leaves Azrael and a unit of ICCs on the backfield objective, which seems like a hell of a lot of points to leave back there, but on the other hand that would keep Azrael safely generating CP, and opponents aren't going to shift that without devoting very substantial resources to it.
I'm also inclined to wonder about Kody's Secondary game. I can't imagine he's having any of these units do Cleanse or Recover Assets action, at least not until late game. Maybe Kody's experience is he's generally crushing opponents pretty hard early and can afford to cycle past action Secondaries until turns 4-5.
The other most remarkable thing is the three units of Centurion Devastators. I'm not surprised to see them, but three units is a lot of them. Also of note is all of them are equipped with grav-cannons, which lack the utility lascannons would have into Monsters, plus they have poor AP and the list has no way of bumping it. It is a lot of Damage 3 shots though, which gives them greater utility into elite Infantry than lascannons would have, so maybe that's the consideration at play here.
The list certainly served Kody well in the 1st round, where he crushed Renegade Chaos Marines 92-34. 2nd round the grav-cannons' low AP appear to have served him amiss, as he gave up a close 67-74 loss against Combined Arms Militarum. 3rd round he dished out a 91-49 drubbing to an Ork War Horde. 4th round was a close 89-79 against Skysplinter Drukhari. 5th round Kody humbled Gladius Black Templars 92-42. 6th round Kody murderfaced Bile Chaos Marines 100-40. It appears the list didn't serve Kody well in the7th 1st round though, where he gave up a rough 58-92 loss against an Aeldari Warhost. Rough luck taking a loss in the last round, but Kody still gave a very impressive performance. Good job Kody!
An interesting thing I realized when I was painting earlier today is that Jonathan's list and Kody's list are a study in opposites. Jonathan's list only repeats a datasheet once, and that's the pair of Lancers. Everything else in the list is a one-off, for a total of 13 distinct datasheets. Kody's on the other hand, has just 7 datasheet, and 4 of those are characters. Both rose just shy of the top of large events. I will say, however, that Jonathan's list consistently scored higher than Kody's. Perhaps Jonathan's inclusion of utility units made the difference.
Next we're going over to the Doonhamer Open - 40K Super Major, a 5-round, 141 player event held in Newall Terrace, Scotland. Shaun Hunter of Dumfries Gamers took his Wrath list, went 4-1, and took 15th 28th place (his ranking changed as I was writing this entry). You can check out on BCP, and we'll look at it below.
Dark Templars
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Judiciar
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Impulsor
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky swordy boys
Gladiator Lancer
Gladiator Lancer
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Infiltrator Squad: 5 stay-off-my-lawn boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Sternguard Veteran Squad: 5 awesome bolter boys
This list is pretty conventional: Lion Dad, two units of Deathwing Knights, Inner Circle Companions with Judiciar, Sternguard Vets with Azrael, Combi-Lieutenant and Scouts for utility work, Infiltrators to mind the backfield objective, all pretty common in a Wrath list. Maybe the Infiltrators are a little indulgent, as a lot of people settle for Intercessors these days, but it is nice to zone out a quarter of the table from opponents' units entering from Reserve.
Last week the long range shooting might have been Ballisti, now with those being priced beyond their value we're seeing Lancers instead. I don't think I'll get much argument stating Lancers are better at the long range fire support role, and they can throw a bucket of dice at chaff too if needs be.
Incursors are a nice little add. They can be tasked to scoring Secondaries, or they can buff shooting when doing so is advantageous. Incursors and Azrael-led Sternguard pair pretty nicely. If the Sternies are shooting at the target the Incursors have spotted, assuming it's the Oath target, Shaun can pick up all the dice that aren't 6's and reroll them, secure in knowing that very few of them are going to miss.
Here's another list with an Impulsor. It could carry either Azrael and the Sternguard or the Inner Circle Companions and the Judiciar. My money is on the ICCs, giving them a protective shell an opponent would have to chew through to get at them. It also has a pretty good bucket of dice to throw at chaff, and when the ICCs are out doing their thing it can be tasked to scoring Secondaries.
This event used WTC scoring. Just as a quick reminder, WTC scores on a 0-20 scale. 10-10 is a tie, 20-0 is a crushing victory, 0-20 is a savage defeat. Every 5 points of difference in battle point score is 1 point of difference in WTC point score.
Shaun had a good start, scoring a comfortable 13-7 against War Horde Orks in the 1st round. 2nd round he crushed Noble Lance Knights 20-0. 3rd round he squeaked out an 11-9 win against Berserker World Eaters. 4th round he took a pretty bruising 6-14 loss against Awakened Necrons. He ended with a win though, squeaking out an 11-9 in a mirror match against another Wrath Dark Angels list. Well done Shaun!
Our next list appeared at the Aemona Grand Tournament Vol. 4, a 5-round, 30 player event held Ljubljana, Slovenia. Talus's Ivan Fehir went 4-1 with his Wrath list and took 4th place. Here's Ivan's list on BCP, and let us behold it below.
Ivan's list
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Captain: Ancient Weapons
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 choppy boys
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy 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
Gladiator Lancer
Gladiator Lancer
Impulsor
I'd think there was a template people were basing their lists on, but competent players are going to draw similar conclusions about what's good and what's not, so high performing lists are bound to have some similarities. Ivan's list has most of the usual unit choices, so I'm going to gloss over most of them and just talk about what's different in this list.
The main things that are different are the inclusion of a Captain and an Assault Intercessor Squad, plus a Jump Intercessor Squad. The Jump Intercessors are largely a utility unit, but can do some work with impact Mortals, a power fist, and high volume chainsword attacks. The Captain and Assault Intercessors doubtless mech up in the Impulsor and get launched at something Ivan wants to do something terrible to. Ideally that something will be on an objective, so Ivan can have the Captain go Super Saiyan and reroll Wound rolls on the turn he's got Devastating Wounds. Assuming the unit survives, they'll wreck face on objectives, and the Captain gives access to discounted Stratagems, which is always good.
Ivan began the event with a 1st round win, a close 66-59 against Infernal Chaos Knights. 2nd round he took a bruising 31-72 loss against Subterranean Nids. 3rd round he bounced back to crush Santic Grey Knights 97-42. 4th round the Grey Knights came back for revenge but didn't get it, as Ivan won against the Warpbane Task Force 83-55. He ended strong with a solid 84-64 against Pactbound Chaos Marines. Good show Ivan!
We have one more list to look at. It was played at 1° GT Mallorca, a 5-round, 29 player event held in Palma, Spain. Arturo Garrido went 4-1 and took 6th place with his Stormlance Task Force. You can see Arturo's list on BCP, and we'll check it out below.
Arturo's list
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Judiciar
Ravenwing Command Squad
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 flying choppy boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky swordy boys
Inner Circle Companions: 3 spooky awesome swordy boys
Inner Circle Companions: 3 spooky awesome swordy boys
Inner Circle Companions: 3 spooky awesome swordy boys
Sternguard Squad: 10 awesome swordy boys
Ravenwing Knights: 3 awesome plasma biker boys
Gladiator Lancer
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
If you're like me, you have questions. Specifically, we have questions about the three squads of Inner Circle Companions. They are a good unit without a character attached, but they do lose some utility without the attached character. Not much I suppose though - just the -1 to be hit. Still, why not a unit of 6 to attach to the Judiciar and a unit of 3 to use the excess points on? The smaller units do have a smaller footprint, and so will be easier to hide behind terrain. Also, it spreads out the combat power. Arturo can send multiple units to attack a large unit, or spread them out if it's advantageous to do so.
It's neat to see the Ravenwing Command Squad and the Ravenwing Knights. The Stormlance has a lot of powerful stratagems that can only be played on a Mounted unit, so it's good to have at least one in your Stormlance list. They also can have good activations in both the Shooting and Fight phases, so they're a good source of burst damage.
Speaking of burst damage, Land Speeder Vengeances yo! Damage 3 weapons are hella useful, primarily for picking up elite Infantry, but enough wounds from Damage 3 weapons will pick up Vehicles and Monsters too. Plus, Vengeances are eligible to have a lot of the Stormlance's strats played on them by virtue of having the Fly keyword.
Arturo got going with a 1st round 56-39 win against Rubricae Thousand Sons. Those scores being so low, I wonder if they got through the whole game? 2nd round he took a tough 60-82 loss against Infernal Chaos Knights. 3rd round he came back for a close 73-70 win against Aeldari Aspect Host. 4th round he crushed Combined Arms Militarum 85-37. 5th round he murdered a Templars Gladius 99-36. Good show Arturo!
Statistics
It was not a great weekend for Dark Angels. We had 33 players who played 178 games and won 80 of them, scoring a 46% win rate, which is pretty poor. We had 4 X/1 results, but no event wins.
Wrath of the Rock continues its streak of being more played than all the other detachments combined, with 23 players who managed a 48% win rate and 3 of the X-results.
Stormlance had 4 players and the last X-result, but also the lowest win percentage at 33%.
Gladius had 5 players and a 48% win rate.
One player used a Company of Hunters and managed a 40% win rate.
Factions to Watch Out For
Meta Monday still hasn't updated from the 8th. so I'm using data from Stat-check.com, which isn't from the single weekend, but from the most recent balance patch.
Aeldari are at the top of the pack, with over 5% of the player population, a win rate over 60%, and an OverRep score over 2, which is nuts.War Host has a 73% win rate and appears to have a 5.72 OverRep which is so high I don't think I'm reading the table right. Aspect Host has a 65% win rate.
Death Guard are 6% of the player population and are rocking a 58% win rate. The VirVec detachment appears to be played by 4% of the population and has a 58% win rate.
World Eaters are being played by 6% of the player population and have an overall 59% win rate. The most played detachmeint is Berserker Warband.
That's what I've got for you, my esteemed battle brethren! Be sure to check out Dank List Wargaming and Black Crow Gaming for some quality Dark Angels content on YouTube. As always, I hope you enjoy my work and you find it helpful in your quest to be ever victorious! For The Lion!
Comments
Post a Comment