Dark Angels Update 6/8/2026
The first of those lists is Zac Brooks-Richardson's Gladius Task Force list, which he used to go 4-1 and place 3rd out of 34 players at Nailhammer 11 (2 day 5 game GT) held in Belper, England. Here's Zac's list on BCP. We'll discuss it below.
The lion does not concern himself with victrix (Nice!)
Lion Dad (unconcerned with Victrix) - Warlord
Azrael
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys
Ballistus Dreadnought
Ballistus Dreadnought
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Sternguard Veteran Squad: 5 awesome bolter boys
This is a pretty classic Dark Angels Gladius list. It derives the bulk of its killing power from Lion Dad and the 15 Deathwing Knights, who between them can punch to death anything in the game. They're hard as nails, but eat up a lot of points, so if you use all of them, you can't afford to be indulgent with the rest of your points.
Zac exercised good discipline with the rest of his points spending. Azrael is obviously needed because he's really going to want the CP to spend on the Gladius' stratagems. There's the classic Intercessors+Scouts+Combi-Lieutenant trio for utility work. A squad of Jump Intercessors is good either to put on the board to scrap with opponent's forward deployed units first turn or to hold in reserve to Deep Strike to accomplish a positional Secondary or maybe drop onto an unattended objective. The Ballisti are solid long-ranged firepower whose primary job is to pop transports so Lion Dad and the Deathwing Knights can ruin the passengers' day, but they can also do a pretty good job standing on objectives, and can do some damage to tougher targets as well. Finally, he's got the small squad of Sternies for Azrael to join and act as troubleshooters against anything an opponent might slip past Lion Dad and his 15 bestest buddies. Zac can afford to dedicate Oath to whatever he may need to engage with the Az-Sternies because Lion Dad's aura takes care of the DWKs' rerolling needs, and the Ballisti bring their own. The one unit I'm a little dubious about is the Incursors, but they do pair nicely with Az-Sternies because they afford Zac the ability to fish for those 6's To Hit without fear he's going to wind up with less hits than he would have if he hadn't fished.
Zac got the event off to a strong start, wholloping Subterranean Nids 95-31 in the 1st round. 2nd round he pummeled War Horde Orks 94-57. 3rd round he took a 26-98 beating against Champions of Fenris Space Wolves. 4th round Zac shook it off and crushed Solar Spearhead Custodes 90-52. 5th round was his closest game, in which he won by a nail-biting 2 point margin against Hearthband Votann, 85-83. Well done Zac!
In a more crowded field, the next couple lists probably wouldn't make the cut for a full workup, but I'm exercising editorial discretion in choosing them. The first of these is Benjamin Reggett's Armored Speartip, with which he went 4-2 and took 24th place out of 120 players at Terracon 2026 in Naracoorte, Australia. Here's Benjamin's list on BCP. Let's have a look at it!
Benjamin's list
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Chaplain: Tip of the Spear
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon: Armoured Commander
Gladiator Lancer
Gladiator Lancer
Infiltrator Squad: 5 stay-off-my-lawn boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Land Raider Redeemer
Repulsor Executioner
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
I haven't really looked at the Armored Speartip detachment since it got released, so I had to remind myself what it did. Basically it's all about buffing units coming out of transports, specifically Heavy Transports, which are defined by the detachment in a way that is future-proof against potential later releases, but which are basically any of the Land Raider or Repulsor variants. Without getting too into the weeds about the detachment, Benjamin is basically using it to slam his Redeemer and RepEx up his opponent's nose so his two squads of Inner Circle Companions can unass and do terrible things to the opposing army. The detachment rule grants any unit coming out of a Heavy Transport that just moved a D3+3" Normal Move. The Combi-Lieutenant's enhancement lets him nominate a Transport in Strategic Reserve to count the turn as 1 higher for coming out of Reserve (so can Rapid Ingress Turn 1). The Chaplain's enhancement gives the Transport he's in Scouts 6". There's a stratagem that allows a Transport to go through walls and enemy models, a stratagem for disembarking from a transport that's made an Advance move, and a stratagem for letting a unit bounce back into a transport at the end of the Fight phase.
Benjamin's list is designed around getting his 12 Inner Circle Companions (hats off for the dedication to to the spooky swordy boys, by the way) up in his opponent's business. Obviously, there are the spooky swordy boys and the boxes moving them around. I might have chosen a regular Land Raider for one squad instead of the RepEx, but the RepEx undeniably slings a bucketload of dice around the table to eliminate units too trivial to dedicate ICCs to. The Land Raider Redeemer will disincentivize opponents from moving their units anywhere near it once it's in proximity to enemy units. The Lancers are in the list to pop transports so the ICCs can pick up what comes out of them. Lion Dad does what Lion Dad does. Benjamin's utility units are his Infiltrators, Scouts, and Combi-Lieutenant. The one questionable choice is the Chaplain. He does grant his squad +1 To Wound, but the conventional wisdom is that a Librarian would be better for the 4+ Invulnerable save. Benjamin's list didn't seem to suffer too badly for it though.
Benjamin had a strong start with a comfortable 70-56 1st round win against Grand Coven Thousand Sons. 2nd round he drubbed Huron's Chaos Marines 80-42. 3rd round he took a bruising 61-84 loss against Serpent's Brood Aeldari. 4th round he buried Beastslayer Space Wolves 100-42. The odds got evened with Space Wolves the following round, with Benjamin taking a punishing 37-79 loss against a Saga of the Great Wolf list. Ending on a high point, he brutalized Contagion Death Guard 95-49. Good show Benjamin!
The last next list I'm going to fully review this week is a Wrath of the Rock list belonging to Curt Oliveira, who went 4-2 and took 10th out of 36 players at Kalispell Crusade GT in Kalispell, MT. Here's Curt's list on BCP. Let's look at it below.
Lion one more time!
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
Eradicator Squad: 6 chonky melta boys
Inceptor Squad: 3 chonky flying plasma boys
Inceptor Squad: 3 chonky flying plasma boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Invader ATV: melta buggy
Invader ATV: melta buggy
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Sternguard Veteran Squad: 5 awesome bolter boys
Curt has the units we expect to see in a competitive Wrath list: Lion Dad, 2 units of Deathwing Knights, ICCs led by Azrael, and Intercessors and Scouts for utility work. Instead of the Combi-Lieutenant, he spent 5 more points for Jump Intercessors, and I can't say I blame him.
One thing I find interesting is that Curt included a lot of units that are good targets to play Relics of the Dark Age on. The obvious choice is the fatty unit of Eradicators, but the two units of Inceptors can do some work with it too. Even the Invaders might see it played on them if they're in position to slag something and Curt doesn't have anything better to use it on. In addition to their obvious shooting utility, the Inceptors can be handy providers-of-Lone Op to Lion Dad, dropping in where Curt wants to place him.
I find it kind of interesting that Curt included the unit of Sternies without having a character to attach to them. Strictly speaking it's not necessary - their functionality isn't lost by running without one. It's just that they make such a good place to stick either Azrael or a Librarian in, (or even a Captain for the synergy with his Best Day Ever ability) that seeing them without one just feels off. On the other hand, they make an inexpensive source of Devastating Wounds Curt can chuck at something that's being a pain in the ass and spiking Invulnerable saves without dedicating a major resource to it.
Curt started the event off with a bang, obliterating a Liberator Blood Angels army 100-22 in the 1st round. 2nd round he paid for it, giving up a disheartening 36-95 against VirVec Death Guard with two Cancer Crabs. He bounced back in the 3rd round, drubbing Experimental Prototype T'au 89-52. 4th round he crushed Wrathful Black Templars 87-36. 5th round he had a close and oddly low scoring 44-32 against Shield Host Custodes. 6th round he gave up a humbling 71-84 against Warpforged Thousand Sons who also brought a pair of Cancer Crabs. Despite the bummer ending, fine work Curt!
I was originally going to give this list an Honorable Mention because I already reviewed three with three different detachments and this is another Gladius list. Then I looked at it, and it surprised me enough to in change my mind. This is Noah Lockard's list which he played at RCM: Spring Scuffle 2026 in , Tyler, TX. He went 3-1-1 and placed 5th out of 20 players. Here's Noah's list on BCP. Scroll down to see it.
Lionstorm
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Lieutenant in Phobos Armour
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty 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
When I saw this was a Gladius list, I wasn't expecting it to lean this heavily into shooting. Gladius lists are generally balanced or maybe even skew a bit harder into assault with shooting as an adjunct or afterthought. Here it's the main show, with a trio of Land Speeders Vengeance, a pair of Redemptors, and a Thunderstrike. That is a lot of Damage 3 plasma blast. Plus, there's a pair of Incursor squads to give Noah's shooting an Oath-equivalent buff, and a little squad of Sternies to join Azrael and do some Devastating Wounds, potentially finishing off mostly-dead targets without having to commit another major asset into them.
Noah's list isn't helpless in the Fight phase. Obviously Lion Dad is one of the punchiest units in the game, and the Redemptors and Sternies with Azrael attached are not slouches either, but the list doesn't lean as hard into it as a typical Gladius with multiples of Deathwing Knights and Inner Circle Companions would be. For utility work, there's the usual Intercessors+Scouts+Combi-Lieutenant trio. The Darkshroud will also put in utility work, as it provides it's value to the list just by existing in a space and projecting its defensive aura (presumably) around the Redemptors.
If I have one criticism of the list, it's that I think the points for the Phobos Lieutenant and the squad of Incursors I presume he gets attached to would have been better spent on a second Thunderstrike. Getting +1 to Hit in the Shooting phase is great, but getting +1 to Wound against Monsters and Vehicles is hella important with the kind of firepower Noah's list is packing. It would help his Strength 9 plasma punch up better into tougher targets that the list might otherwise struggle to take down.
I feel like my point is illustrated by Noah's 1st turn, which was a win, but barely so, 72-71 against a T'au Mont'ka list with a trio of Riptides and a Stormsurge. 2nd round he took a 31-76 pounding against another very similar T'au Mont'ka list. 3rd round he crushed a Black Templar Bastion 100-45. 4th round he got that strangest of results, a tie, 75-75 against a Drukhari Covenite Coterie. He wrapped up his event with a win, 80-60 against an Ultramarines Blade of Ultramar. Well done Noah!
Statistics
As I mentioned in the intro, it was a slow weekend. It's like everyone is holding their breath for 11th to drop. There were 17 Dark Angels players at big events over the weekend, playing 94 games and winning 42 for a dreary 45% win rate. There were 2 X/1 results and one podium finish, but no event wins.
The most played detachment was Wrath of the Rock with 9 players and a 47% win rate.
The most successful detachment was the Gladius, with 2 players who both went X/1, 1 of which was a podium finish, and bringing in a 75% win rate.
The Armored Speartip was played by 4 players who scored a dismal 41% win rate.
And then there were two lists that were played at Open Offensive Strastégique 2026, but the lists weren't posted. Whatever they were, they didn't perform well, the two players only scoring a 30% win rate. Post your lists next time, you French bastards!
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. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that 11th edition will be a good one for Dark Angels. May your games be fun and victorious! For the Lion!
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