Dark Angels Update 10/19/2026
There were three event winning lists over the weekend. The largest event topped by a Dark Angels list was Beast Coast Gaming Fall Brawl 2026, where Keegan Watters brought his Assault Brethren+Wrath of the Rock (T&H) list to go 4-0-1 and rise to the top of a pack of 41 players. Let's check that out!
Only shmucks put a bounty on the Lion
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Ancient: Imperium's Sword
Attached: Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Captain on Bike: Ancient Weapons
Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Deathwing Terminator Squad: 10 awesome boltery-fisty boys
Eradicator Squad with melta rifles: 3 chonky melta boys
Invader ATV: gatling buggy
Invader ATV: gatling buggy
Land Raider Redeemer
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Keegan definitely went with a quality beats quantity approach here, with a handful of expensive units that are either rocking high toughness and a 2+ save, 4+ or better invulnerable saves, or in Lion Dad's case both. Nothing says "I own the middle of the board" like Lion Dad and 10 Deathwing Terminators, to say nothing of a Land Raider Redeemer packed with Azrael-led Inner Circle Companions and an Eradicator Squad tucked into the back seats in case an opponent runs an appropriate target up to them. One nice thing about Transhuman Strategist being a much more widely held ability is that now we can have Azrael use transports without missing out on CP generation.
In addition to Azrael, the Inner Circle Companions have an Ancient attached to them with the Imperium's Sword enhancement we already all know and love. The Ancient also provides the unit +1 OC, and stickies objectives, which are both very useful things to have, especially in a Take & Hold list. Keegan probably has the Land Raider motor them over to the expansion objective so they can hop out and sticky it, then sticks an ATV or something on it to keep opponents from dropping a unit on it out of Reserve.
For a fast threat, Keegan has a Bike Captain with a thunder hammer attached to a small unit of Outriders. This is a very synergistic pairing. The Outriders provide +1 To Hit and Sustained Hits 1 to thunder hammer wielding models on the charge, and +1 Damage and Sustained Hits 1 to other models. The Captain on Bike provides Cleave 1 on the charge to his unit, plus he's a source of Transhuman Strategist and he can put his unit in whatever Doctrine Keegan wants it to be in. He can have them choose to be in Assault Doctrine and send them through walls with the Knights of Iron strat to hit things opponents might otherwise deem safe. In addition, the Captain having Ancient Weapons means his thunder hammer is Strength 10 AP -3, which takes it past a lot of break points.
Keegan didn't bring much shooting in this list, but what he has is not insignificant. The Redeemer is a potent Overwatch threat and will do a pretty good job of murdering most 2-Wound infantry whenever it activates. The Terminators are mostly good for chaff-chewing, but they are packing a pair of our dandy new plasma cannons that can go to Damage 3, and Relics of the Dark Age can take their shooting past some big break points if it's advantageous to Keegan to do so. The Eradicators are a threat to any Monster or Vehicle that an opponent has to respect, and again the Relics strat can boost their ability to wound Toughness 12 targets, which may occasionally be important.
For utility units, Keegan brought a pair of Scout squads and a pair of Invader ATVs. I imagine one Scout squad sits on the backfield objective while the other is deployed forward to prevent screening, while the ATVs run around and score secondaries as needed.
Keegan's 1st round was a pretty close 95-87 against Bully Boyz+Da Big Hunt+Wreckas Orks (Purge). 2nd round was a near 85-76 against Ironclad Champions+Vow-sworn Crusaders Black Templars (Purge). 3rd round was a 76-76 tie against Assault Bros+Deathwatch Support+Terminator Storm Force Ultramarines. 4th round was his one big blowout, a devastating 100-25 against Hunting Warpack+Lords of Dread Chaos Knights (T&H). 5th round was a tight 86-77 against Bezerker+Butchers World Eaters (Purge). Congratulations on the win Keegan!
The second list we're looking at is another event-winner, Toby Bennett's Assault Brethren+Deathwatch Support+Ironclad Champions (T&H) list, which he went 5-0 with, besting 37 other competitors at the Inspired Gaming Golden Ticket Grand Tournament! I'm sure Toby will discuss his list and his performance on his YouTube channel, TacticalRock40K, but it appears he hasn't yet, so let's take a look at it here.
Hold me closer tiny dancer (It appears Toby likes a cryptic list name)
Lion Dad - Warlord
Chaplain on Bike: Imperium's Sword
Attached: Outrider Squad
Impulsor
Brutalis Dreadnought: Articifer Sarcophagus
Deathwatch Terminator Squad: 5 plasma-fisty boys
Deathwatch Terminator Squad: 5 plasma-fisty boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Eradicator Squad with heavy bolters: 3 chonky bolter boys
Reiver Squad: 5 edgy boys
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
I'm going to begin with the elephant in the room, which is the Deathwatch Support detachment. If you're playing any competitive 40K at all, you have or probably will run into this thing. It allows a player to take up to 500 points of Deathwatch units in a Space Marine army. A 5-man Deathwatch Terminator Squad costs 190 points, can have 3 heavy weapon upgrades, and can take our dandy new plasma cannons. You're probably already seeing the appeal. On top of that, the Deathwatch Support detachment has an uppy-downy strat, strats that grant the following benefits to ranged attacks: +1 Strength and +6" range; Ignores Cover and reroll 1's To Wound; and Anti-non-Vehicle 4+. As if that's not enough, they get rules that add on top of Combat Doctrines: Sustained Hits 1 while in Devastator Doctrine (that applies to melee attacks as well), Lethal Hits while in Tactical Doctrine, and Precision against targets within 9" while in Assault Doctrine.
I'll be blunt. I hate this detachment. I think it's toxic and it needs to go away, or be nerfed into oblivion with all possible haste. That said, I'm not throwing shade at Toby or anybody else for using it. Games Workshop only tends to be moved to make balance adjustments when something is shown to be problematic in competitive play, so hopefully Toby and other top players are showing this detachment's toxicity enough to get GW to act on it.
Moving on, the Ironclad Champions detachment seems to have been taken just to bring a Brutalis Dreadnought with Articifer Sarcophagus for the -1 Damage effect. And, you know, a Brutalis to smash things in the face. Toby went with Brutalis fists instead of talons, and there's a clear point to doing so now, with the fists being better at punching big things to death, with the talons being better at cutting through Infantry units. The detachment also lets him reroll 1's to Hit on his own, and his fists are Twin Linked, so he can operate outside of Lion Dad's aura without losing buffs.
If you're playing with Lion Dad, you want some good punchy units for him to buff around him (the Deathwatch Terminators can't, they don't have the Dark Angels keyword). Hence the two squads of Deathwing Knights. They make a very strong statement that Toby owns the center of the table, and opponents who want to make a counter-argument better have a really good one.
As an early-game challenge to an opponent's control of their expansion objective, Toby has an Imperium's Sword Bike Chaplain with a small unit of Outriders. This is a nice little package that can punch above its weight when it charges - Imperium's Sword benefits from the +1 Damage Outriders give when they charge, and with the Chaplain attached they get Lance for free. Also, the Chaplain randomly gives his squad Devastating Wounds on their guns, and said guns are Twin-Linked, so it's a bit like 10th ed Sternguard riding along.
Toby brought along a squad of heavy bolter Eradicators for crowd control, and a squad of Reivers for wacky shenanigans. All of their weapons have Precision, they debuff opponents' units' OC, force Battle-shock rolls in the Fight phase, they can Spider Man through terrain and other models, they have Scouts, they have Deep Strike, and they only cost 85 points. I just wish they didn't look like they were designed by an adolescent edgelord-wannabe. There's an Impulsor, which can either carry around the Eradicators or the Reivers depending on which Toby thinks is more important on a game-by-game basis, and a squad of Scouts, who are probably sitting on the backfield objective, but I'm not entirely sure about that. There doesn't seem to be another logical candidate for the job though.
1st round Toby announced his presence with a convincing 100-81 against Blitz+Bully+Wreckas Orks (Purge). 2nd round he drubbed Hearthguard+Needgaârd Votann 94-65. 3rd round he humbled Cybernatica+Eradication Mechanicus (T&H) 100-75. 4th round he squeaked out an 80-79 against EPC+Kauyon T'au (Recon). 5th round Toby went into another Dark Angels list, and he could have helped a fellow 1st Legion chapter brethren go 4-1 while going 4-1 himself, but nnnNNNOOOOoooo! He had to win the game like a big meanie-pants! I'm just kidding, though Toby did hand the opposing Ass Bros+Wrath (T&H) list a bruising 100-77. Congratulations on the win Toby!
There are a number of different combinations of detachments that did well that I found interesting that I don't have time to cover in depth. One combination that appeared three times was Assault Brethren+Darkflight Pursuit+Stormlance (Recon), and out of those three, the most successful (and arguably the highest scoring list of the weekend belongs to Jose BELDA, who went 5-0 and scored 5th out of 241 players at Paris Wargame Expo 2 - Solo 40K. Let's check that one out!
Jose's list
Sammael
Ravenwing Command Squad
Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Chaplain on Bike: Imperium's Sword
Ravenwing Command Squad
Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Land Speeder
Land Speeder
Land Speeder
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Ravenwing Darkshroud
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Jose clearly embraced the Fast Gun Good principle with this list, packing it with quality high-speed gun platforms and spending some extra points on support for them. The quality of the Land Speeder Vengeance is pretty well established at this point, and the smaller Land Speeders are no joke either, and can shoot and scoot.
Storm Speeder Thunderstrikes are now a pretty credible argument to make against enemy Monsters and Vehicles in their own right, rather than being a unit that buffs your other units into those targets. It no longer hands out +1 To Wound to other units, but grants it to itself. It's primary weapons were given lateral adjustments or maybe minor buffs. The las-talon no longer hits on 2's, but is Strength 10 with D3+3 damage instead of D6+1 The Stormfury missile launcher also no longer hits on 2's, and is Strength 10 instead of Strength 12 now, but has 2 shots (both these systems have the same profile except for range now). The Icarus rocket pod, on the other hand, caught a straight-up buff. It's Strength 6 instead of 8 now, but has 6 shots instead of D3, and retained Anti-Fly 2+, though it did lose Twin Linked.
The combined bike units are a pretty exciting aspect of the list. Between the characters, the Ravenwing Command Squads, and the Outrider Squads with their thunder hammer toting sergeants, these units are dishing out a pile of Damage 3+ attacks when they charge. As previously mentioned, the Chaplain grants his unit Lance on the charge, and Sammy can electively keep his unit in Assault Doctrine to get Lance and +1 AP from Gene-wrought Might. Thanks to the Stormlance detachment, these units have a 14" move, gain +1 to Advance and Charge rolls thanks to the RWCSes, and with the Sudden Onslaught strat can change an Advance roll to a 6. Rules as written, you have to select the unit to make an Advance roll, then spend the CP for the strat, then make the roll, but the phrasing is important because it allows you to get the +1 from the RWCS. And then, what I find really exciting, at the end of a Fight phase, if one of these units was eligibile to fight during the phase, you can play Wind-Swift Evasion to either make a Normal move or Fall-back move. So, you can have the unit bomb up, punch something in the face, and then bounce out again beyond the reach of the opposing unit to catch them.
As support for the shooty speeders, Jose brought a Darkshroud and a pair of Incursor Squads. Incursors can now buff friendly shooting without having to themselves shoot, so they make dual-use action monkeys and shooting buffers. The Darkshroud plays a similar role on the defensive, providing Stealth to everything within 6" of it just by existing in a space, so it too can perform actions while fulfilling its role in the list. Plus it has Lone Op 15", is a Toughness 8 model with 10 Wounds and (in this list) a 16" move and only costs 80 points. If I was reasonably sure they won't get cut when Codex Dark Angels gets its update (and if they were available to be found anywhere), I'd be tempted to run out and buy 3 of them.
Then there's the solo squad of Outriders, which maybe has the job of minding the backfield objective, but in a Recon list that's honestly not that important. Holding your backfield objective doesn't score you any Primary points, and is only relevant to two Secondaries, one of which you can fulfill by controlling both expansion objectives instead of your and your opponent's home. I suspect this squad probably scurries over the expansion objective, or maybe it just runs around and does whatever Jose needs it to.
1st round Jose announced his presence with authority, brutalizing Ass Bros+Tac Attack+Doomed Blood Angels (Purge) 100-30. 2nd round he scored a comfortable 87-76 against Putrescence+Shamblerot Death Guard (Disrupt). 3rd round he upped his game into Death Guard, spanking a VirVec (Purge) list 100-62. 4th round he butchered a Berserker+Vessels World Eaters (Priority) list 100-37. 5th round he drubbed CoC+Warpstrike Chaos Marines (Disrupt) 100-77. Undefeated, woohoo! Well done Jose!
Honorable Mentions (there's a pile of these)
Dylan Cowan went 4-1 and placed 7th out of 97 with his Ass Bros+Darkflight+Stormlance (Recon) list at Ratcon 2026.
Alex Leskó went 4-1 and placed 12th out of 105 with his Ass Bros+ICTF+Terminator Storm Force (T&H) list at Alba GT 2026. That's a combo of detachments I'm particularly excited about.
Rafael Harbinson went 4-1 and placed 6th out of 64 with his Wrath+Ass Bros (T&H) list at That 6++ Grand Tournament: South 2026.
Adrian Nicola went 4-2 and placed 10th out of 85 with his Ass Bros+Darkflight+Ironstorm (T&H) list at Bloodshed Bay Two.
Aidan Barkley went 4-1 and placed 5th out of 43 with his Darkflight+Deathwatch+Ironstorm (Purge) list at Your Hobby Place Fall Brawl Hosted by Away Games.
Mitchell McBirney went 4-1 and placed 5th out of 102 with his Ass Bros+Stomlance+TSF (T&H) list at Rumble on the Rivers 40k GT 2026.
Nick Ludwig also went 4-1 at Rumble on the Rivers 40k GT 2026, placing 13th out of 102 with his Wrath+Ass Bros list.
Christopher Pole went 4-1 and placed 4th out of 35 with his Ass Bros+ICTF+TSF (T&H) list at Hallowtide Redux.
Jerry Reynolds weint 5-0 and placed 1st out of 24 with his Wrath+Deathwatch (T&H) list at Biggest Little Grand Tournament I.
Baptiste Verwee went 4-1 and placed 17th out of 241 with his Darkflight+Ironstorm+Stormlance (Purge) list at Paris Wargame Expo 2 - Solo 40K.
Peter Koshchuchar went 4-1 and placed 4th out of 31 with his Ass Bros+Darkflight+Stormlance (T&H) list at 2. Royal Rumble XXL.
Corey Trumbley went 3-1-1 and placed 3rd out of 22 with his Wrath+Ass Bros (T&H) list at United Wargamers Fall GT.
Brethren, I salute you!
Statistics
Last weekend 85 Dark Angels players played 412 games and won 207 of them, earning a solid 51% win rate. Our brethren earned 14 X/0-X/1 results, 11 podium finishes, and 3 event wins.
Wrath of the Rock+Assault Brethren (T&H) was a combo played by 22 players who scored a 51% win rate, 4 X-results, 2 podium finishes and 1 event win.
Wrath of the Rock+Inner Circle Task Force (T&H or Priority) was played by 15 players who scored a 41% win rate and no X-results.
Assault Brethren+Inner Circle Task Force+Terminator Storm Force was played by 8 players who scored a 42% win rate, but did pick up 1 X-result/podium finish.
Assault Brethren+Darkflight Pursuit+Stormlance Task Force (mostly Recon, one T&H) was played by 5 palyers who scored a 78% win rate and 2 X-result, with one of those being a podium finish.
A diverse and eclectic variety of everything else was played by 34 players, who scored a 53% win rate and 6 X-results, 2 of which were podium finishes.
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. It looks like they'll have a lot to talk about! Until next week my brethren. May your games be fun and victorious. For the Lion!
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