Chapter Update 3/23/2026
The best performing list of the weekend was Team Battle Brothers' Aidan Barkley's Wrath of the Rock list. Aidan went 5-0 and placed 2nd out of 53 players at the Fourth Annual Blue Ridge Championship GT held in Charlottesville, VA. You can see Aidan's list on BCP. We'll check it out below.
The ROCK
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Ravenwing Command Squad: Ancient Weapons
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Centurion Devastator Squad: 3 super-chonky las-missile boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Ravenwing Black Knights: 6 awesome plasma biker boys
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Sternguard Veteran Squad: 10 awesome bolter boys
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Vanguard Veteran Squad with Jump Packs: 5 awesome flying swordy boys
Aidan went with an interesting variation of the typical Wrath of the Rock template. Some of the elements of the typical Wrath list are here. There's Lion Dad, Azrael, a squad of Deathwing Knights, plus the usual Intercessors-Scouts-Combi-Lieutenant trio. Sternguard Veterans and Centurion Devastators aren't too unusual to see, and Incursors often pop up. It's strange to see only one squad of Deathwing Knights however. The absence of the usual second squad seems to be paying for the squad of Ravenwing Knights and the Ravenwing Command Squad Aidan included, with a Storm Speeder Thunderstrike to support them.
I feel I should note that it's possible that the Ravenwing Command Squad is getting attached to the Outrider Squad. Bricks of 9 bikes can be tough to move around the table, and with the Champion having Ancient Weapons, he can potentially be swinging Strength 7 AP -3 Damage 4 attacks. However, the Command Squad attached to the Black Knights gives a better return on Relics of the Dark Age if Aidan wants to use it on plasma bikes, plus it grants the Command Squad's melee attacks Anti-Big Thing 4+ on the charge, which gives him 6 more attacks to potentially score Devastating Wounds with, and the Champion's attacks will be a bigger contributing factor as well.
Aidan's list has a heavier emphasis on shooting than is typical in a Wrath list. In addition to the plasma bikes, he's got the Sternguard, a squad of Centurion Devastators, a Thunderstrike, and a squad of Incursors. Centurion Devastators are a contender for the best long-range anti-monster/vehicle shooting platform we have, and with the Infantry keyword benefit from the detachment rule. Incursors, of course, grant a shooting buff, which effectively allows the Cent Devs to reroll all their hits into the target spotted by the Incursors, and/or allows Aidan to freely pick up all of the Sternies hits that aren't 6's, secure that he can fish for 6's without worrying he's going to wind up with less overall hits than he would have gotten if he'd just rerolled the misses. Then there's the Thunderstrike, which gives Aidan some interesting options. The Thunderstrike's own shooting is okay, but I've found it unlikely to actually pick up anything big on its own. However, giving all the rest of Aidan's shooting into a Monster or Vehicle +1 to Wound is very tasty. The obvious thing to do there is use that buff with the plasma bikes, so he doesn't need to use Relics on them, and save Relics for another squad. He might, however, also use it to buff the shooting of the Cent Devs, or the Sternies. The Thunderstrike's buff would let the Cents lascannons potentially wound on 2's (with Twin Linked) and Cent missiles on 4's, and while the Thunderstrike buff wouldn't help the Sternies generate any more Dev Wounds, it would help them generate some chip damage, potentially enough to peel that last wound or two off their target.
Aidan's list is a little less punchy than a typical Wrath list, but it can hold its own in the Fight Phase. Lion Dad and the Deathwing Knights are not units anyone wants to go up against, and Azrael with the Sternguard do a credible job in the Fight phase too. The Vanguard Veterans are likely more of a utility unit than a Fight phase piece, but they do have the Deathwing keyword, so they can make a Leonine Aggression charge. Plus, the Ravenwing Knights with the attached Command Squad can be very good into the right kind of target. Assuming you can get the whole squad's attacks in, without Oath they'll do 8 Devastating Wounds to a Monster or Vehicle, and that's not accounting for the damage the Champion can do. With Oath, the squad stands a decent chance of top-to-bottoming a C'tan in one Fight activation.
Aidan enjoyed a nonstop ride on the Win train! 1st round he wrecked Grizzletarum 97-50. 2nd round he eked out a 73-69 against Warpbane Grey Knights. 3rd round he squeezed out a 77-74 against Hallowed Martyrs Sororitas. 4th round he scored a more comfortable84-74 against Champions of Faith Sororitas. 5th round he ended the event with a solid 88-74 against another Grizzletarum list. Aidan only missed winning the event by 30 battle points. Well done Aidan!
The next best-performing list of the weekend was a Gladius Task Force played by Phoenix40K's George Miller, who went 4-1 and took 5th out of 54 players at the Phoenix 40K Spring GT 2026, held counterintuitively in Nottingham, England (I thought it would be Phoenix, Arizona). Here's George's list on BCP. We'll analyze it below.
Lion el chadson and the knights of the dank table
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
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
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Infiltrator Squad: 5 stay-off-my-lawn boys
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Sternguard Veteran Squad: 5 awesome bolter boys
Vindicator
Vindicator
George's list is pretty straightforward. It's hard to go too far wrong with Lion Dad and three squads of Deathwing Knights backed up by a pair of Vindicators. This is a list that punches hard and shoots hard, and is also obliging an opponent to chew through an awful lot of 2+ saves. He's got Infiltrators to screen out his backfield, Intercessors to sticky objectives, Scouts to hold open that initial line of advance, and Azrael with a small unit of Sternguard to stay in the backfield, generate CP, and deal with any small skirmishing unit his opponent might sneak through the wall of 2+ saves he's sending up the field. Finally, the Jump Intercessors give George a unit he can have drop in to score Secondaries, and potentially help with some cheeky maneuvers with Lion Dad.
If George's list is showing us one thing, it's that sometimes you don't need to be overly clever with your list. You just need to take solid units and use them well.
1st round George crushed Warpbane Grey Knights 99-43. 2nd round he scored a comfortable 80-64 against Grizzletarum. 3rd round he massacred Awakened Necrons 90-42. 4th round Hallowed Martyrs Sororitas squeaked by him 71-74 (note: Deathwing Knights are not good into Celestian Sacresants led by Hospitallers). 5th round he managed to squeeze out a 71-69 win against Ultra-Ultras. Well done George!
Our last list of the weekend was a Company of Hunters played by Liam Grosbridge of Dicks Ahoy! which he went 3-1-1 with and placed 7th out of 55 at North and South GT 2026 held in Hobart, TAS, Australia. Here's Liam's list on BCP. We'll check it out below.
Ravenwing motorcycle enthusiasts
Chaplain on Bike: Recon Hunter - Warlord
Chaplain on Bike
Ravenwing Command Squad: Master of Manoeuvre
Ravenwing Command Squad: Mounted Strategist
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Outrider Squad: 6 choppy biker boys
Outrider Squad: 6 choppy biker boys
Invader ATV: melta buggy
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Ravenwing Black Knights: 6 awesome plasma biker boys
Ravenwing Black Knights: 6 awesome plasma biker boys
Ravenwing Black Knights: 3 awesome plasma biker boys
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
I always enjoy seeing a Company of Hunters list do well, and my goodness Liam certainly went all-in on the bikes! My guess is that his list is about board control. He's got a Bike Chaplain with Recon Hunter for the 9" Scout move, which I expect he's attaching to one of the 6-man Outrider squads so he can send it up the middle and gum up his opponent's ability to move out of his deployment zone. He has the Scouts to deploy forward and keep a lane of advance open for his Scouting Bikes, and he's got five 3-man bike squads he can send all over the board to keep opponents from coming in out of Reserves or moving much past their deployment zones.
To kill things what need killing, he's got the second 6-man Outrider squad with another Chaplain to attach to them, plus the 6-man Ravenwing Knight squads with the Command Squads to attach to them. One of the Command Squads has Master of Manoeuvre to allow it to count the turn as 1 higher for coming out of Reserves, and the other has Mounted Strategist to allow Liam to reroll its Advance and Charge rolls. The Land Speeders Vengeance give him some Damage 3 shooting, and the Thunderstrike can buff his shooting into a big target per turn. Plus it has Deep Strike and can be uppy-downied with the Rapid Reappraisal strat.
WTC scoring! Just a reminder, it's a 0-20 scale with every point of deviation past 10 representing a 5 battle point difference in score. 1st round Liam actually played to a 10-10 draw against Infernal Lance Chaos Knights. 2nd round he crushed Invasion Fleet Tyranids 20-0. 3rd round he smashed War Horde Orks 17-3. 4th round he scored a comfortable 12-8 against Huron's Marauders Chaos Marines. Sadly, 5th round he took a 7-13 loss against Talons Custodes played by the event-winning player. Still, that was a very solid performance. Good show Liam!
Honorable Mentions
Mark Sheard of Phoenix40K went 3-1-1 and took 12th at the Phoenix 40K Spring GT 2026 with his Gladius Task Force.
Addison Peek and Jacob Johnson both went 4-2 and took 16th and 18th respectively out of 70 players at Battle on the Bayou, both with Wrath of the Rock lists. Here's links to Addison's list and Jacob's list.
Jack Halliburton went 3-0 with his Wrath of the Rock list at the Dice Like Ice 40K Grand Tournament - March 2026. It's too bad he didn't go back for the second day of the event. I imagine with him going 3-0 the first day it must have been for something pretty compelling that prevented him from returning.
Brethren, I salute you!
Statistics
The number of Dark Angels players was up, but unfortunately the success numbers were down. We had 40 players play 199 games and win 88 of them, for a net win rate of 45%. Of that, there were just 3 X/0-X/1 results and no event wins.
Wrath of the Rock blew all the other detachments combined out of the water for player numbers, with 30 players who sadly only earned a 44% win rate. One of the X-results was earned by a Wrath list.
Company of Hunters seems to be going up in popularity, with 4 players giving it a try and managing a very solid 58% win rate, plus one of the X-results.
Gladius got respectable play, with 4 players who earned a 52% win rate and the last of the X-results.
One innovator tried the Orbital Assault Force, but scored only a 33% win rate.
Lastly, one stalwart ran a Stormlance, but only scored a 20% win rate.
That, honored battle brethren, is what I have for you this week. Be sure to check out Dank List Wargaming and Black Crow Gaming on YouTube for Dark Angels content created by real enthusiasts for the legion chapter. It's good to be back! I'm looking forward to a new year, both for putting my skills to the test and bringing you the news of our beloved army. As always, I hope you find my work enjoyable and informative. May we all strive ever for glorious victory! For The Lion!
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