Dark Angels Update 5/18/2026

 Hello honored battle brethren! The event tempo picked back up last weekend, and so did the fortunes of our beloved army! We had a number of X/0-X/1 results, over a wide spread of detachments, with two of those being podium finishes and one an event win! It is my pleasure to bring these lists to your attention.

The obvious place to start is with the event winning list. That was piloted by our hero Kyle McCord of Midwest Monstars, who went 5-0 and emerged victorious from a field of 39 players at Kennedy Con held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. You can see Kyle's list in full on BCP. We'll discuss it below.

Angels of the Fierce 🦁
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys
Centurion Devastator Squad: 3 super-chonky las-missile boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Eradicator Squad: 3 chonky melta boys
Invader ATV: melta buggy
Land Speeder Vengeance
Ravenwing Black Knights: 3 awesome plasma biker boys
Ravenwing Black Knights: 3 awesome plasma biker boys
Sternguard Veteran Squad: 10 awesome bolter boys

Kyle's list is, at core, a solid Wrath of the Rock list. He's got the iron fist of Lion Dad and a pair of Deathwing Knights squads that can make the middle of the table very hostile territory for opponents' units. He's got Azrael attached to a squad of 10 Sternguard in this list, which we don't see all the time, but frequently enough, and it's easy to understand why, given that those two units synergize very well and are useful in both the Shooting and Fight phases. He's got the Combi-Lieutenant and the Intercessor squads for the usual reasons. Unusually, he doesn't have Scouts though.

For his long range shooting unit, he's got a unit of three Centurion Devastators, which in Wrath is probably the very best choice one can make, given that they benefit very well from the detachment rule, can be a beneficiary of the Relics of the Dark Age strat, and have built-in rerolls for both the To Hit and To Wound rolls. He's also got the one Land Speeder Vengeance for that valuable Damage 3 Blast shooting, and it's good to include at least one vehicle in a Wrath list to give opponents something besides Lion Dad to target for Bring It Down. He included an Invader ATV and Jump Intercessors for action monkeys, and as trading pieces he has a pair of small Ravenwing Black Knight squads. I've thought about doing that myself, as they're fast and with their potential to deliver up to 9 Damage 2 plasma shots followed up with 9 power weapon attacks that can Dev Wound Monsters and Vehicles on 4's, they can potentially punch up, and for all of that they're cheap at 80 points a squad. 

It should be noted Kyle actually has a lot of units that can potentially get good use out of the Relics of the Dark Age strat, between the Cent Devs, Eradicators, ATV, two squads of Black Knights, and even the Sternguard in the right situation. None of them except the Sternies are going to get max benefit out of it, but that's not a reason not to use it.

Let's take a look at the stops on Kyle's ride on the win train. 1st round he humbled Null Maiden Vigil Custodes with an allied Cerastus Knight Lancer 97-66. I guess Lion Dad beats Cerastus Lancer. 2nd round he massacred Questoris Imperial Knights 94-28. 3rd round he schooled another Dark Angels Wrath list 95-55. 4th round he pummeled Shield Host Custodes 95-64. 5th round was his closest game, but still a comfortable 68-57 against VirVec Death Guard. Way to go Kyle!

Our next list was run by Noah Lockard of the BCS Rattlers, who went 5-1 with his Gladius Task Force and scored 4th out of 97 players at the Alamo 40K GT held in San Antonio, Texas.  Here's Noah's list on BCP. We'll check it out below. 

Lionstorm
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Lieutenant in Phobos Armour
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Ravenwing Darkshroud
Redemptor Dreadnought
Redemptor Dreadnought
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Sternguard Veteran Squad: 5 awesome bolter boys
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike

This list looks like it ought to be an Ironstorm instead of a Gladius, but the Gladius combat doctrines gives Noah the potential to set up go turns to hit his opponent hard with well timed fusillades and assaults. Between the 3 Vengeances and 2 Redemptors, he also has a pile of Damage 3 shooting, and a not inconsiderable amount of Damage 3+ punching. He has the Thunderstrike to help his shooting punch up into tougher targets, and the Vengeances' plasma storm batteries being Twin-linked helps with that as well. On his Shooting go turn, he can drop in the Thunderstrike and Incursors (with the Phobos Lieutenant attached) to buff his shooting into key targets, and of course if he keeps his Redemptors close to Lion Dad, they're getting his reroll 1's Fight phase buff, which should help their output considerably. He's even got a Darkshroud to complicate opponents' ability to shoot out his units. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous of his 4 Vengeance/Darkshroud hulls. I've only got 2, and 1 is kitbashed from a Storm Speeder.

I imagine the superabundance of Damage 3 shooting is Noah's attempt to tech into the meta, which has a lot of 3-wound elite infantry in it (looking at you, Victrix Honour Guard!).

Noah had a 5-round undefeated streak, only losing in the 6th and final round to the 1st place player. In the 1st round he smashed Berserker World Eaters 100-32. 2nd round he scored a solid 81-59 against Awakened Dynasty Necrons. 3rd round he crushed Conceited Emperor's Children 100-48. 4th round he scored a comfortable 85-73 against Haloscreed Mechanicus. 5th round he bodied Goretrack World Eaters 97-45. Unfortunately, his loss in the 6th round was a punishing 53-99 against VirVec Death Guard. It's disappointing to see a final round loss, but the 5-0 event start is impressive all by itself. Well done Noah!

Our next list is also coming to us from the Alamo 40K GT, piloted by Andrew Schaffrinna who went 4-1 and ended in 14th place. This is the list I'm most excited about because (EEEEE!) it's a Company of Hunters with 27 Ravenwing Knights! You can see Andrew's list in full on BCP. We'll discuss it below. 

Company of Ohio
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Ravenwing Command Squad: Master of Manoeuvre
Ravenwing Command Squad: Recon Hunter
Ravenwing Command Squad: Master-crafted Weapon
Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 choppy boys
Eliminator Squad: 3 sniper boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty 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: 6 awesome plasma biker boys
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike

27 plasma bikes! What's not to like? Kidding aside, this kind of list has a lower skill floor than a conventional Wrath of the Rock list, but it's also a list that presents a different threat than players expecting a Wrath list are likely to expect. The core of the list is obviously those three Ravenwing Knight+Command Squad bricks. They can move around the table extremely fast, and deliver a lot of pain to whatever they reach, but they do have to be used with care, as they don't have a hard profile for opponents to pick up, and being Mounted have to go around terrain rather than through it. 

The bike bricks have a big footprint, and it can be easy for them to get in each other's way, and space behind terrain to stage them in safety will usually be at a premium. Two of the enhancements, Master of Manoeuvre and Recon Hunter, do a lot to alleviate that problem. Recon Hunter giving a units Scout 9" lets Andrew deploy it where it can move up behind good staging terrain before the game starts, and Master of Manoeuvre allows him to put a brick in Reserve and have it potentially enter play Turn 1, even by Rapid Ingress if he so chooses (the wording of the enhancement doesn't disallow this, whereas late 10th Turn 1 enter strats are specifically worded to not allow Rapid Ingress).

The last enhancement, Master-crafted Weapon, gives the Champion Precision on his melee weapon. It's usually regarded as something to spend that last 10 points on and nothing more, and truth to be told that's generally my attitude. That said, I have had games where I've spent CP on Epic Challenge to give the Champion Precision. There are times when opponents throw at you a a unit+character combo that derives a lot of its functionality from a fairly weedy character - Sororitas Sacrosants led by a Hospitaller is a good example of this. Being able to Precision out the character is often a valuable ability to have. 

Moving on, the Ravenwing Knights are supported by a pair of Land Speeders Vengeance for shooting targets that their plasma talons aren't great into. Vengeances like being in a Company of Hunters, because they can Shoot after Advancing or Falling Back, which affords the superior ability to get angles and means they can't be tied up by being in Engagement Range. Even surrounding them won't reliably tie them up, as they have a 14" move and Fly. Also supporting the Knights is the Storm Speeder Thunderstrike, granting them +1 To Wound against Monsters and Vehicles. The Thunderstrike does occasionally lift up an opposing unit all by itself too, so it's good to trigger its buff with its Icarus Rocket Pod and put its D6+1 damage shots into something that it might remove if you get lucky with it. 

Moving on to the non-Ravenwing elements, Lion Dad bears some discussion. The Company of Hunters doesn't do anything for him, either through its detachment rule or stratagems, but he can be valuable in one nonetheless. For one, it's nice to have him standing next to a bike brick when they supercharge and unload their plasma, because he can and will save members of the squad from failed Hazardous rolls. Also, Ravenwing Knights can do good work in the Fight phase against the right kinds of targets, and it's there that Lion Dad's Fight phase buff can really boost their output. Plus, it's very helpful just to have such a beast in the Fight phase handy to menace opponents with, and under the right circumstances he can kill his way across the table. It helps that he can go through walls too, because he keeps opponents from being secure hiding their units behind them. 

There's also Azrael, who isn't typically as vital in a Company of Hunters list as he is in virtually any other detachment, because the sauce of the CoH is its detachment rule, not its stratagems. The strats of the CoH range from mediocre to situationally good, and some of those situations can come up with frequency (Talon Strike giving +1 to Wound in the Shooting or Fight phase against an Infantry Character or Mounted Character unit being the biggest example), but competitive CoH lists often do without him. I've been playing a CoH list for over a year, and I manage by discarding any Secondary I can't score at least 3 points on the turn I draw it. That said, it's better to have a CP generator than have to generate it like a peasant by discarding Secondaries, and Azrael attached to Assault Intercessors does give Andrew a nice little skirmishing unit to screen out and protect his backfield with. Possibly they're his backfield objective holders, but he could be using his Invader ATV for that. The Invader is just big enough to have one tire on the objective and screen out the corner closest to it. And, it can sticky the objective with Hunter's Trail and move off it if Andrew finds it advantageous to do so. 

That leaves Andrew's Incursor squad and Eliminator Squad. The Incursors' utility is pretty obvious. Their shooting buff is essentially an Oath-equivalent for a brick of plasma bikes' shooting, upping their output considerably. The Eliminators are an innovative choice. They have Infiltrate and Stealth, so they can be positioned to get angles, and with the sergeant having the bolt carbine they can pop out through a wall, potshot, and pop back again. All of their guns have Precision and AP -2, with the sniper rifles being Damage 3 and the carbine Damage 2. They also provide another means of lifting weedy support characters out of units, and if Andrew gets lucky they might do a full 8 damage and lift not-so-weedy characters. On some terrain maps they can even hold an Expansion objective from behind that wall, but he can sticky it with a bike unit with Hunter's Trail, and their presence keeps opponents from dropping units on it from Reserve.

Andrew had a strong 1st round, crushing Experimental Prototype T'au 91-43. 2nd round he scored a comfortable 68-57 win against Huron's Chaos Marines. 3rd round he drubbed Questoris Knights 84-63. 4th round he took his loss, 74-85 against Cursed Legion Necrons. He bounced back to secure his 4-1 record though by pummeling Armored Speartip Salamanders Marines 76-30. Good show Andrew!

I'd like to include a writeup of one more list, because I think it brings some uniqueness that's worth seeing. Keegan Watters brought his Stormlance Task Force to Beast Coast Gaming's Port City Brawl, went 4-1, and took 5th out of 34 players. You can see Keegan's list on BCP. We'll check it out below.

Don't end up like your mom and underestimate this Johnson
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Sammael
Librarian: Feinting Withdrawal
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 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
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Infiltrator Squad: 5 stay-off-my-lawn boys
Invader ATV: melta buggy
Invader ATV: melta buggy
Land Speeder Vengeance
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Sternguard Veteran Squad: 10 awesome bolter boys

The Stormlance is an ABC list - Always Be Charging, and Keegan certainly brought a lot of units that he wants charging into opponents' units. I like that there's an evident two waves to his list. The first wave is the pair of Jump Intercessor squads and Sammy with the Outriders. He can send them out, pick off opponents' forward deployers or trading units, and Sammy can potentially pick up something big, being Strength 7 Damage 3 on the charge with the Outriders' buff and potentially getting Lance from the Shock Assault strat. Then as opponents are dealing with that, they've got Lion Dad and a squad of Deathwing Knights moving up to own the midfield. Just the one squad of Deathwing Knights is a little surprising, but there's also Azrael and a small squad of Assault Intercessors to help out.

For utility work, Keegan sprang for Infiltrators for backfield minding duty, plus he has the usual Combi-Lieutenant and a pair of ATVs to zip around and score Secondaries. Interestingly, he has two squads of Incursors. It doesn't seem like his army is shooty enough to justify two, but Incursors are a pretty decent unit outside of their shooting-buffing ability.

For shooting, Keegan has the one Land Speeder Vengeance and a squad of 10 Sternguard. What he's done that's particularly clever is included a Librarian with Feinting Withdrawal to attach to the Sternguard. Feinting Withdrawal is the only mechanism in the Stormlance that allows a unit to Fall Back and Shoot, which is apt to be important for Sternguard. Usually we like to attach Azrael to Sternguard, but the Librarian has good synergy with them too, granting the Invulnerable save and also his Focused Smite power has Devastating Wounds and thus benefits from the Sternguard unit ability. Attaching the Librarian to them affords Keegan the freedom to put then in Reserve without sacrificing Azrael's CP generation, so it's a win-win.

Keegan had a rough 1st round, pairing into Biosanctic Genestealer Cult and taking a punishing 55-99 loss. After that he bounced back for a 4-game winning streak. 2nd round he pummeled Infernal Chaos Knights 88-67. 3rd round he drubbed Nightmare Hunt Chaos Marines 78-39. 4th round he thumped Grizzletarum 87-68. 5th round he scored a comfortable 78-63 against more Infernal Chaos Knights. Well done Keegan!

Honorable Mentions

We have 3 Wrath of the Rock lists that went X/1 over the weekend and 1 that went 4-2.

Barry Hamilton and Jack Hunter both went 2-1-2 and scored 12th and 14th respectively out of 38 players at Call to Chaos V - Call To Chaos-ier held in Letterkenny, Ireland. Here's Barry's list and Jack's list.

The Alamo GT is the gift that keeps on giving. Joseph Rexer went 4-1 and placed 15th out of 97. Here's Joseph's list.

Derek Hecker went 4-2 and placed 19th out of 82 at the Maryland Open 2026 held in Westminster, Maryland. Here's Derek's list. 

Honored brethren, I salute you!

Statistics

This is the best weekend results I've seen for Dark Angels for a while. Forty players played Dark Angels at GTs, played 210 points and won 102 of them for a win rate just shy of 50%. We had 7 X/0-X/1 results, 1 non-win podium finish, and an event win. 

As usual, Wrath of the Rock was the most played detachment by far, with 26 players, a 50% win rate, 4 X-results, with one of those being the event win.

Three players played the Company of Hunters, scoring a 59% win rate and 1 X-result.

Three players played the Stormlance Task Force, also scoring a 59% win rate and 1 X-result.

Three players played the Gladius Task Force, scoring a 41% win rate and 1 X-result

One player played an Armored Speartip, scoring a 40% win rate.

One player played a Vanguard Spearhead. He tragically scored a 0% win rate.

Three lists either weren't posted or there was no way for me to determine the detachment. These mystery lists scored a 50% 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!