Dark Angels Update 6/1/2026
The Rock Is Gonna Lay The Smack Down On All Yo Candy Asses
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Ancient in Terminator Armour: Deathwing Assault
Captain in Phobos Armour: Tempered in Battle
Captain in Terminator Armour
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Eradicator Squad: 3 chonky melta boys
Hellblaster Squad: 5 plasma boys
Infiltrator Squad: 5 stay-off-my-lawn boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Repulsor Executioner
Right off the bat, there are the units we really expect to see in a Wrath list: Lion Dad, Deathwing Knights, and Inner Circle Companions led by Azrael. All solid choices - you can read about why they're good here. Tyran's list is a little unconventional in that he has characters to add to the Deathwing Knight squads. He might be adding both the Captain and Ancient to one squad to be able to potentially bang out a charge with both them and Lion Dad and be able to reroll both charge rolls. The Captain also gives Tyran a means to get a discount on Inescapable Justice for that second Oath in a turn. Or, you know whatever strat he wants to play.
For shooting options, Tyran has a RepEx, a small unit of Eradicators, and a small unit of Hellblasters. Nothing earthshattering, but the RepEx does have a solid datasheet, and the Eradicators and Hellblasters give Tyran some units worth playing Relics of the Dark Age on without distorting his list around a big shooty unit. The Hellblasters can ride in the RepEx too if Tyran wants them to.
Tyran has Intercessors to hold his backfield objective, which makes it likely his Infiltrators are his forward-deployed unit. Unconventionally, he's included a Phobos Captain to attach to them. I've seen them so rarely in Dark Angels lists that I had to look up his datasheet to be sure of what he does. His offensive output is underwhelming, so he's clearly in the list for his Master of Deceit ability, which affords Tyran the ability to pick up three friendly Infantry units and redeploy them, including into Reserves if he wants. I have to admit, this really bugs me. On paper, it seems like a clever trick to have up your sleeve, letting you wrong-foot your opponent by repositioning units they deployed to get a grip on. In practice I've found where terrain is matters far more for where I'm putting my units than where opponents are putting their units does. I'm supposing the main utility is that it lets Tyran deploy the Infiltrators really obnoxiously, then pull them back when opponents are done deploying, and Infiltrators do have that 12" zone of exclusion, but it seems to me he could have accomplished much the same with two units of Scouts and just Scout move them at the beginning of the game, which would have been 30 points cheaper and let Tyran put Ancient Weapons on his Terminator Captain. My best GT performance is 3-2 though, so take my thoughts for what they're worth.
Tyran started strong, administering a 1st round 100-31 wholloping of Berzerker World Eaters. 2nd round he prevailed with an oddly low-scoring 51-42 against Plague Legion Daemons. 3rd round he drubbed Vanguard Tyranids 85-59. 4th round he got smashed 38-100 by VirVec Death Guard bringing the cancer of the meta, a pair of Defilers. He bounced back to crush Lions Custodes 89-54. Guess he showed them who the real lions are. Well done Tyran!
The other list I want to discuss today was played at one of the bigger events of the weekend, Mountain West Classic Grand Tournament '26 - Warhammer 40K with 133 players. Christopher Green went 4-2 and took 40th place, which is not spectacular but it is a performance one can take some pride in. The reason I'm hot to analyze his list is because it's really unconventional despite being a Wrath list. Here it is on BCP. Let the discussion commence!
Wrath of these Hands
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Chaplain in Terminator Armour: Deathwing Assault
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Inner Circle Companions: 3 spooky awesome swordy boys
Invader ATV: melta buggy
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
Well, that's certainly interesting! I have to say, Christopher's list shares 10 units in common with my Company of Hunters list, and he's got 16 units total in his list if you count Azrael and the Chaplain as separate units.
The Ravenwing Black Knights are clearly an important part of Christopher's list, as he's got 3 units of them, and actually has more Black Knights than I own (which is 12, but I do have 3 Ravenwing Command Squads). Black Knights are a unit with a high potential damage ceiling, but are also a unit that is rather fragile in the current meta. Being in a Wrath list does mitigate their fragility to an extent, and also helps raise their damage ceiling with the Relics strat, and Christopher also included a Thunderstrike to further buff their ability to dish out damage.
While all that is all well and good, if I were going to build a RWBK-heavy Wrath list, I'd have made soem different choices. For starters, Sammael seems like an obvious choice, being able to give one unit the ability to shoot and charge after making an Advance move without having to spend CP on it. I'd have also included a Ravenwing Command Squad or at least a Bike Chaplain to hang Ancient Weapons or Lord of the Ravenwing on. A Ravenwing Champion with Ancient Weapons attached to Ravenwing Knights would be a really serious Fight phase threat to a Monster or Vehicle all by himself. I'd also at least consider adding a Darkshroud to the list to really exploit the stacking defensive buffs.
Or, and call me crazy if you must, I'd have made some different unit choices to play a Company of Hunters list. That loses the defensive buff for the Black Knights, but it gives them a massive degree of freedom to act however you want them to act. It would also allow all the land speeders to shoot after making an Advance or Fall Back move, which is hella useful.
Christopher got the event off to a rough start. 1st round he was handily defeated by Aspect Host Aeldari 60-84. 2nd round he was stuffed by Liberator Blood Angels 98-49. Then he was done losing. 3rd round he buried Freeblade Imperial Knights 100-27. 4th round he drubbed Incursion Daemons 82-59. 5th round he massacred Tallyband Death Guard (with 2 cancer crabs) 98-35. 6th round he squeaked out a 76-72 win against Incursion Daemons. Well done Christopher!
Honorable Mentions
Jay Seebarun of Sturnguard Fat-Tits went 5-3 and took 24th out of 115 players at the Warhammer 40,000 GT: Warhammer Open UK Games Expo, Birmingham held in (I'd imagine) Birmingham England. You can see Jay's Wrath of the Rock list on BCP.
Statistics
It wasn't the bestest-ever weekend for Dark Angels. 26 players played 141 games and won 61 of them, for a dismal 44% win rate. There was just the one X/1 result as mentioned above, though I suppose the other two lists mentioned probably got within a few lucky dice rolls of making X/1.
Most played - Wrath of the Rock, with 20 players, a 47% win rate, the one X-result, and the two other lists that rated mention above.
Next after that was the Gladius, with 3 players and a 38% win rate.
Finally, one player dusted off the Lion's Blade Task Force, and with his 30% win rate showed why we don't play it anymore.
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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