Dark Angels Update 10/26/2026
I actually have a personal connection to the top list of the weekend, a Darkflight Pursuit+Deathwatch Support+Ironstorm Spearhead (Recon) list played by my friend Benjamin Rubenstein. This list took him to the top spot of the Clever Kobold's Halloween Hellscape GT, besting 31 other players. Let's check out his list!
Incredible Violence Delivered at Incredible Speeds (A+ on the list name)
Captain in Phobos Armour - Warlord
Impulsor
Deathwatch Terminator Squad: 3 awesome chonky plasma boys, 2 awesome chonky hammer boys
Deathwatch Terminator Squad: 3 awesome chonky plasma boys, 2 awesome chonky hammer boys
Eradicator Squad with melta rifles: 3 chonky melta boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Invader ATV: melta buggy
Land Speeder
Land Speeder
Land Speeder
Nephilim Jetfighter: Thundercowl Turbines
Nephilim Jetfighter: Thundercowl Turbines
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Toby Bennett keeps telling us Fast Gun Good, and Ben has certainly embraced that principle with this list, because he sure does have a lot of fast guns. He didn't include any Land Speeders Vengeance, but the two Deathwatch Terminator Squads definitely have that profile of shooting covered. He does, however, have a lot of other good fast shooting platforms. Ben said this list is fundamentally unfair. Having been tabled by him playing this list the night before the GT, I'm not going to argue with him.
Let's start with the Nephilims, because they happen to be mine - I loaned them to Ben for this list. Something Ben pointed out that I had not previously noted - in the app, the upgrade to the Nephilim lascannons no longer replaces the Avenger mega bolter. It now replaces the Twin heavy bolter.
Holy bloody moley.
I really can't overstate how important that change is. The Nephilim is now a 200 point gun turret you can plop anywhere along the side of the table and unleash four quality high-damage shots and a torrent of chaff-chewing shots that will 1-shot an Intercessor. They also hamper movement where they've been parked, are 11 Wounds with a 5++ save and an unconditional -1 to be Wounded. They are a really valuable resource to have in a list. Ben gave them both Thundercowl Turbines so he can have them come into play 1st turn.
I just want to talk about the upgrade change for a second. That's not a glitch the way taking multiples of the Nightforged Battery upgrade showing as illegal was a glitch. Someone had to rewrite part of the entry they could have just left alone. It seems most likely that has to have been a mistake. Part of me wants to believe it's an intentional buff, but that would seem to fly in the face of GW's policy of not releasing rules their existing model kits don't support. Could it be an indication that GW intends to release an updated version of the Nephilim? That seems pretty unlikely given that GW sent all of the generic Space Marine flyers to Legends.
Moving on, an issue I've had with the Storm Speeder Thunderstrike in the past was that while the buff if handed to other units was excellent, the Thunderstrike's own organic firepower was pretty underwhelming. It's been buffed enough that I feel like it can actually do its own job, with 4 Strength 10 AP -3 Damage D3+3 shots and 6 Strength 6 AP -1 Damage 2 Anti-Fly 2+ shots and +1 To Wound against Monsters and Vehicles, plus a modest AP buff to all other shooting into one of those targets.
Regular Land Speeders are zippy little shooting platforms that are cheap enough to task to any actions that Ben might need them to do. Ditto the Invader ATV, which now that it has the Vehicle keyword benefits from the Ironstorm detachment rule.
The Impulsor full of melta Eradicators is a package we're seeing in a lot of lists. They are much improved at their job with their meltas having Hunter: Monster/Vehicle, that not only increases the Strength of their attacks but has them hit on 2's. Riding in the Impulsor lets them benefit from the Ironstorm detachment rule. They don't get their datasheet rule allowing the to reroll Damage rolls, but with the variance only being D3's and the fixed damage when within Melta range being 4 or 5, that's not a big loss. Plus the Impulsor lets them go faster, puts a layer of protection between them and getting picked up, and itself packs a respectable amount of chaff-chewing firepower if Ben needs it.
The Incursor Squad is a useful unit that can buff other units' shooting while still doing actions, and the Phobos Captain is in the list because at least one character is mandatory, he's cheap, and he generates CP. He can stand on the backfield objective for what that's worth, which in a Recon list is not all that much, but not nothing.
I'm copy-pasting from last week's entry about the Deathwatch Support detachment and the two units of Deathwatch Veterans it allowed Ben to take:
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.
What I didn't put in that paragraph, the Terminators in the squads that don't take plasma cannons can be given Thunder hammers and storm shields, which have obvious advantages over the default loadout. They give Ben units that both shoot and punch really well, are tough to remove and can be moved around the table pretty rapidly. I'm giving them a try myself soon - I had a bunch of Terminator plasma cannon bits kicking around that I slapped onto some old Assault on Black Reach Terminators, plus the Deathwing Assault Terminators I never got around to assembling.
Not only did Ben enjoy a nonstop ride on the win train, he rode first class - straight 100's all five games. 1st round he mauled Sub Assault Tyranids (Recon) 100-31. 2nd round he crushed Bezerker+Vessels World Eaters (Purge) 100-50. 3rd round he murdered Lions+MoM+Solar Custodes 100-40. 4th round he brutalized Blitz+Brute+Bully (that's nicely alliterative!) Orks (Purge) 100-55. Ben wrapped up his weekend of seal-clubbing by butchering another Berzerker+Vessels World Eaters (Purge) list 100-61. Congratulations on the win Ben!
This week's next featured list belongs to Jordan Gledhill, who took an Assault Brethren+Darkflight Pursuit+Stormlance Task Force (T&H) list to the Warhound GT in October, where he went 4-1 and placed 2nd out of 41 players. Let's check out his list!
Speedy Lions and also the Lion
Lion Dad - Warlord
Captain on Bike
Ravenwing Command Squad
Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
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
Invader ATV: melta buggy
Land Speeder: Thundercowl Turbine
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
I love this list. Jordan has three high speed units with a lot of wounds, a lot of OC, and a lot of face-punching potential. All three of them have multiple models that will be doing at least 3 damage a swing during the Fight phase after they charge, plus a not-inconsiderable amount of 2-damage attacks. Sammy and the Captain's units can choose what Doctrine they're going to be in turn-by-turn (Assault Doctrine, most likely), and the Chaplain's unit brings its own Lance to the fight. He has +2" of Movement on every unit in the list except Lion Dad, who can teleport himself around. With strats he can access Lance, an auto-6" on an Advance roll, and the ability to make a Normal or Fall Back move with any of his three big bike units after a Fight phase they were eligible to fight in.
Punching isn't the only thing this list can do well. A trio of Land Speeders Vengeance are capable of shooting to death anything in the game, and have a very useful Damage 3 profile that's good at picking up a lot of elite units. Plus, they have Ignores Cover from the Darkflight detachment, which is always a good thing for a shooting platform.
I'd thought perhaps Lion Dad would be too slow to get much benefit out of in a list like this, but Jordan's performance would seem to suggest otherwise. Having him be close enough to the bike units to provide his melee buff will certainly enhance their damage output, and he himself of course can kill virtually anything in the game he touches. He's also a threat opponents will have to put some work into eliminating, enough so that the rest of Jordan's units may go unscathed for a turn.
Jordan doesn't have a lot of utility units, but he doesn't have that much need for them in a Take & Hold list. He wants to occupy objectives for his Primary, and there aren't actually that many Secondaries that require action monkeys. I expect the ATV's job is to hold down his backfield objective, and the Land Speeder probably holds his expansion objective while shooting and scooting.
In the 1st round of the event, Jordan brutalized an Ultramarines Deathwatch Support+Dev Bros+TSF (Priority) list 93-35. 2nd round he crushed Lions+MoM+Solar Custodes (T&H) 92-49. 3rd round he drubbed Realspace+ToT Drukhari (Priority) 92-66. 4th round he obliterated Cyberntica+Eradication Mechanicus (Purge) 100-13 (WTF!). Sadly, his momentum ran out in the 5th round, where he dropped an 82-100 loss against Forgefather's+Ironstorm Salamanders list. Still, 4-1 with a 4-0 event start is very impressive. Well done Jordan!
The third list I'm going to review this week belongs to Štěpán Halla, who took a Darkflight Pursuit+Ironstorm Spearhead+Stormlance Task Force (Recon) list to the 40k Ogr Cubb Singles, went 4-1, and placed 3rd out of 50 players. Let's check out his list!
DA flyboys 1.2
Sammael
Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Land Speeder
Land Speeder
Land Speeder
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Storm Speeder Hammerstrike
Storm Speeder Hammerstrike
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike: Thundercowl Turbines
Upon seeing the detachments Štěpán chose, my first thought was that his list bridged the gap between Ben's and Jordan's. Having seen what's in it, I'm more inclined to think that this is a version of Ben's list made by someone who doesn't happen to have 6 Terminators with plasma cannons but does have a trio of Land Speeders Vengeance. Again, Fast Gun Good is obviously the guiding principle of this list.
Other than not having the Terminators you'd take the Deathwatch detachment for, Štěpán made a few other different choices than Ben did. The most obvious is he chose a pair of Hammerstrikes instead of the Impulsor with melta Eradicators. There are upsides and downsides to this choice. The downside is the Hammerstrikes don't have that Hunter profile that makes the Eradicators good at punching up into tougher targets. The upside is they move much faster, produce a lot more shots, and have Ignores Cover. I also think Hammerstrikes can be an alternative to Vengeances for our brethren that don't happen to have them. Vengeances' Plasma Storm Batteries produce 4-6 Strength 10 AP -3 Damage 3 shots (albiet with Blast and Twin Linked). By comparison, a Hammerstrike within 18" of its target produces 5 Strength 10 AP -3 Damage D3+2 shots, which is going to be at least 3 Damage a pop, possibly up to 7 on the 3 Melta destroyer shots if the target is within 9". They don't have Blast, but they do have Sustained Hits 1 at targets within terrain areas, which seems kind of random but I'm not going to complain.
Štěpán also has a pair of Outrider squads, with Sammy to lead one of them for a nice little punching surprise, plus a pair of Scout Squads to provide an early-game screen and/or hold the backfield and expansion objectives as needed.
Štěpán had a good 1st round, murdering an Astra Militarum Grizzled Company (Priority) 100-28. 2nd round he had a close 99-92 win against Lions+MoM+Solar Custodes. 3rd round he took a bruising 80-100 loss against Ass Bros+Deathwatch+TSF Ultramarines (T&H). He bounced back to smash Ass Bros+Irornclad+Tac Attack Ultramarines (Priority) 100-28. In the 5th round he ended strong by krumping Dread+Flyboyz+Kult Orks (Recon) 100-43 - come to think of it, that was kind of the Orky version of his list! Good job Štěpán!
Honorable Mentions
Ben Owen went 5-3 and took 27th out of 143 players at THE COVENTRY 40K : 3-Day with his Wrath+Darkflight (Recon) list.
Jay Seebarun went 5-1 and took 30th out of 143 players at THE COVENTRY 40K : 3-Day with his Ass Bros+Deathwatch+TSF (T&H) list.
Harry Aitchinson went 4-1 and took 10th out of 111 players at THE COVENTRY 40K : 2-Day with his Darkflight+Pho Shadow+Stormlance (Recon) list.
Jan Reisenauer went 5-1 and took 3rd out of 43 players at the 9th Corsair Open Grand Tournament with his Ass Bros+Darkflight+Stormlance (Recon) list.
Juha Ottelin went 4-1 and took 4th out of 37 players at 40k Canteen Brawl 2026 with his Darkflight+Ironstorm+Stormlance (Recon) list.
Roope Oksanen went 4-1 and took 6th out of 37 players at 40k Canteen Brawl 2026 with his Darkflight+Deathwatch+Ironstorm (Purge) list.
Andreas Geretschläger went 4-1 and took 3rd out of 28 players at Kärntner Meisterschaften 2026 with his Wrath+Ironstorm (T&H) list.
Marek Bernard went 4-1 and took 8th out of 50 players at the 40k Ogr Cubb Singles with his Ass Bros+Ironstorm+TSF list.
Ben Stafford went 4-1 and took 4th out of 46 players at OrktoberFest III: This time ,It's a Gt at Blue Hen with his Wrath+Ass Bros (T&H) list.
Brethren, I salute you!
Statistics
Over the weekend, 60 Dark Angels players played 315 games and won 161 of them, earning a respectable 51% win rate, 10 X/0-X/1 results, 7 podium placings, and 1 event win.
The most popular detachment combo was Wrath+Assault Brethren (T&H), with 12 players who scored a 55% win rate and 2 X-results/podium finishes.
The second most popular detachment combo was Assault Brethren+Darkflight+Stormlance (usually Recon, 1 T&H), with 6 players who scored a 64% win rate and 2 X-results/podium finishes.
The third most popular combo was Assault Brethren+Deathwatch Support+TSF with 5 players, a 59% win rate, and 1 X-result.
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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