Dark Angels Update 9/7/2026
Greetings honored battle brethren! It was a big weekend for the
Said legend is Zach Point, and he accomplished this mighty feat of gamesmanship with a Company of Hunters + Darkflight (Recon) list. You may be thinking, oh yay, another one, but Zach's list is noteworthy because...well, you'll see in a minute.
Talk To Me Goose
https://youtu.be/siwpn14IE7E?is=7wJXZ6ATlO9_CBdt
**CoH/Darkflight NOVA Planes
Lion Dad - Warlord
Sammael
Ravenwing Command Squad: Recon Hunter
Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Invader ATV: melta buggy
Invader ATV: melta buggy
Land Speeder
Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery
Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery
Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery
Nephilim Jetfighter: Thundercowl Turbines
Nephilim Jetfighter: Thundercowl Turbines
Ravenwing Black Knights: 3 awesome plasma biker boys
Ravenwing Black Knights: 3 awesome plasma biker boys
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
A lot of the units in this list are pretty conventional. There's Sammy's Biker Brick of Badassery with
A pair of Nephilim Jetfighters, on the other hand, was not on my Bingo card of units I expected to be in a list that placed in the single digits at NOVA. It appears Zach hit on something most of us have missed and took advantage of it. I can actually see a couple reasons why they worked. For starters, they have decent profile for their points - not great, but decent, and most of it is Strength 5 AP -1 Damage 2 with Sustained 1. That's a pretty good profile for picking up Marine bodies, and it's pretty much a guarantee at a 9-round event you're going to play into a lot of Marine lists. It was probably also good tech into Orks as well, being able to Ingress turn 1 thanks to the Thundercowl Turbines and take chunks out of key units (looking at you, Flash Gitz).
The other reason I think the Nephilims paid off for Zach the way they did is that they have a pretty big base that opposing units can't end a move in Engagement Range of. With 2" Engagement Ranges, that's a pretty big chunk of territory. With careful measuring, Zach could make it difficult for opponents to move up the sides of the table and funnel them into the middle, where they're presumably exposed to being blasted by the Vengeances and charged by Sammy's unit and Lion Dad.
Azrael is noticeable by his absence. The pair of Nephilims cost almost 400 points, and those had to come from somewhere. Zach also dispensed with the usual Intercessors to sit on the backfield objective. He does have a squad of Scouts to forward deploy into the lane of advance he wants Sammy's unit to be able to thunder through. He also has a pair of Invader ATVs, and a pair of small Ravenwing Knight squads. The Ravenwing Knights, I expect, are intended to go out and skirmish with opponent's lighter units. Being able to pump out up to 9 supercharged plasma shots and follow through with the equivalent of 9 power weapon attacks is pretty respectable for 75 points. The Invaders, I expect, are largely utility units. One probably sits on the backfield objective, which Zach can then sticky with the Hunter's Trail strat and then pop the ATV into Reserve with Rapid Reappraisal. By having only Lion Dad as his significant non-Ravenwing unit (the only other non-Ravenwing unit in the list being the Scouts), he doesn't have as as much of a CP drain as he might if he was using the typical squad of Deathwing Knights and Azrael with Assault Intercessors or Inner Circle Companions. Good job having more Ravenwing in your Ravenwing detachment Zach!
Zach announced his presence at the event with a 1st round 100-45 thrashing of Infernal Lance Chaos Knights (Priority). 2nd round he schooled Conceited Emperor's Children (Priority) 97-70. 3rd round he trounced Stormlance+LoG Blood Angels (Priority) 100-59. 4th round he bludgeoned EoS+Sky Ass Drukhari (Recon) 100-77. 5th round he had a close 100-86 against HoA+Lib Con Iron Hands (Purge). 6th round he renewed the need for me to come up with synonyms for "defeated by a large margin" by crushing Ob Pha+TPA Necrons 100-45. 7th round his reign of terror was finally ended by War Horde Orks (T&H) with a 75-85 defeat. 9th round he rallied for a big finish, pummeling Ret Cad T'au (Purge) 100-45. Way to go Zach!
For the next list we're looking at this week, I had to choose between two CoH+Darkflight (Recon) lists that took 1st at their respective events. I picked the one I found more interesting, which is Jan Reisenauer's list which he went 5-0 with at Geneva GT III, rising to the top of a pack of 58. Let's check it out.
black knights Lion Dad - Warlord Sammael Ravenwing Command Squad: Recon Hunter Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys Chaplain on Bike: Master Crafted Weapon Ravenwing Command Squad Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky swordy boys Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys Land Speeder Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery Ravenwing Black Knights: 3 awesome plasma biker boys Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Once again, we have a variation on the meta CoH+Darkflight list that dispensed with Azrael and an attached unit. Instead, Jan included a second face-punching bike brick, led by a Bike Chaplain. This guy is kind of interesting because he gives his unit Devastating Wounds shooting (at targets within 12") and +1 to Wound in the Fight phase. That kind of has the Ravenwing Command Squad members wounding anything short of Land Raider on 4's off the charge, and while they don't get Devastating Wounds, they are AP -2, and the Ancient and Apothecary will be doing 2 wounds apiece, while the Champion and Chaplain will be doing 3. For extra comedy, Jan gave the Chaplain Master Crafted Weapon for Precision in the Fight phase, so he can snipe out key characters.
Anything that manages to survive and evade the two bike mounted cavalcades of calamity then have to face Lion Dad and a squad of Deathwing Knights. I picture those units crying out "Oh, come on!" like Rhodey when he suddenly has a tanker truck flying at him in Captain America: Civil War. Both those units are adept at bringing the beatdown, and with their various defensive abilities are quite capable of scamming opponents who try to bring them down.
Firepower again comes from the trio of Land Speeders Vengeances and the Thunderstrike to help them punch up into Toughness 10+ targets.
Again, I'm a little unsure what's minding Jan's backfield objective in this list. I think it might be the Ravenwing Knights. Jan probably stickies it with Hunter's Trail and has them go skirmish once opponents have committed their Reserves.
Jan got o ff to a rousing 1st round by beating Hu Ma Chaos Marines (Purge) by...Holy Cow, 100-12! Did his opponent not bring a Battle Ready army? Did he have a fainting spell after his first turn? You almost have to be trying to only score 12 points in a game!
Anyway, 2nd round Jan prevailed over Arg Ass+Ban Grey Knights (Priority) by a much more reasonable 95-78. 3rd round he trounced Freebooter+MD! Orks 94-39. Geeze Jan, let some other people score points! 4th round he thrashed Bra Eng+Butchers+VoW World Eaters 95-46. 5th round he put the capstone on his reign of terror by crushing Lions Custodes (Disruption) 95-47. Congratulations on the win Jan, even if you are a big meanie! ;)
For a little variety, the last list I'm going to review this week is the only one that isn't a CoH+Darkflight list that rose to prominence over the weekend. The list in question is Marko Preocanin's Inner Circle Task Force + Librarius Conclave (Priority) list, with which he went 4-1 and took 4th out of 33 players at the Dark Sphere 40K GT - September. Let's check it out.
The Lion’s Back BABY! (he never left) Lion Dad - Warlord Azrael Attached: Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys Librarian: Celerity Attached: Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys Ancient in Terminator Armour: Deathwing Assault Attached: Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Librarian in Terminator Armour: Temporal Corridor Attached: Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys Lieutenant with Combi-weapon Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys Land Speeder Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
As you can see, Marko went all-in on punching things to death as his way of dealing with enemy units, and that is probably the safest way to go with a list based around the Inner Circle Task Force. The detachment bonus only extends to Deathwing Infantry, and the only good character to attach to a shooting unit to confer Deathwing is Azrael, and the only shooting squads he can attach to are Intercessors, Hellblasters, and Sternguard. None of those are bad choices, but it may behoove a player to let Azrael stand on the expansion objective for a few turns to generate CP instead of exposing him to hostile attention. Punching things will work because opponents have to come out onto objectives, which can then be Vowed for the detachment bonus.
Marko only included 2 Librarians in his list, but those Librarians give him some key abilities. The one with Celerity gives Marko and Advance+Charge threat with a potential 8" base move, and the one with Temporal Corridor can uppy-downy to exploit mistakes his opponents make. He selected a Terminator Ancient instead of Librarian to lead one of his squads of Deathwing Knights, giving the character Deathwing Assault for that 1st turn Deep Strike. Now that Lion Dad's Forestwalk ability functions properly again, Marko can plunk 16 very durable OC onto any objective on the table 1st turn, and opponents will have to really work to get them off it.
Shooting in this list is almost nonexistent. The rest of the list is made up of utility units. Finally we have the Intercessors to mind the backfield objective! In addition to them, there's a Land Speeder, an Outrider Squad, a pair of Scout Squads, and the Combi-Lieutenant. Every good Priority list probably ought to have a Combi-Lieutenant in it to be the primary button pusher, with an array of cheap units to score Secondaries and be backup button-pushers as needed.
Sadly Marko's loss came 1st turn, a bruising 71-100 against Kauyon+EPC T'au (Priority). He had a heck of a 2nd round rally though, rampaging over SotB+LoSaS Space Wolves 100-22. 3rd round he prevailed in a close 100-93 match against Freeblade Imperial Knights (Priority). 4th round I think he caught a by, or his opponent got disqualified because BCP doesn't show an opponent or an opponent's score, and gave Marko 100 points. It's weird that someone who was 2-1 going into the 4th round would catch the by though. Anyway, 5th round he squeaked out a 96-95 win against Vanguard+Ambush Tyranids (Recon). Well done Marko!
Honorable Mentions
Benjamin Frederiksen went 5-0 and took 1st out of 42 players at Armed Forces Day 2026 with his CoH+Darkflight (Recon) list. Congratulations sir!
Conan Jennings and Luke Henderson both went 7-2 at NOVA Open 2026 Grand Tournament with their CoH+Darkflight (Recon) lists, placing 21st and 24th out of 383 players respectively.
Iain Scott went 3-1-1 and took 7th out of 30 players at Nailhammer XII GT with his CoH+Darkflight (Recon) list.
Brethren, I salute you!
Statistics
It was a good weekend to be a Dark Angels player, with 50 of us playing 321 games and winning 181 of them for a 57% win rate. There were 5 X/0-X/1 results, 4 podium finishes, and 2 event wins.
Company of Hunters + Darkflight Pursuit (Recon) continues to be the most reliable way for Dark Angels players to bully the meta, with 23 players who scored a 65% win rate, 4 of the X-results, 3 of the podiums, and the 2 event wins.
I'd be unsurprised if GW tamps down on that list, but I suspect they're holding off until the release of Codex: Space Marines and the resulting overall rebalancing of all Astartes armies. With those list taken out of the data pool, the Dark Angels overall win rate drops to a much more reasonable 51%
After CoH+Darkflight, Wrath (Priority) is the second most popular setup, but doesn't reward its players as well, with 8 players who scored a 47% win rate.
That, honored battle brethren, is what I have for you. 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. Until next week my brethren. May your games be fun and victorious. For the Lion!
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