Dark Angels Update 11/9/2026
Greetings honored battle brethren! It was a wild weekend for the
I'm going to start with the list that won the most games, which is Nicolo Gili's Assault Brethren+Darkflight Pursuit+Ironstorm Spearhead (Purge) list, with which he went 6-0 and took the top spot at Torneo a Terni Adeptus Ternanus. Let's take a look at that list!
No Leone NO PARTY
Lion Dad - Warlord
Sammael
Ravenwing Command Squad
Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Impulsor
Eradicator Squad with melta rifles: 3 chonky melta boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Land Speeder
Land Speeder
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Nicolo clearly leaned into the Fast-Gun-Good principle, with a healthy compliment of flying gun platforms, plus the Eradicator bus, all of which units benefit from the Ironstorm detachment rule. Obviously the Vengeances are the best all-arounders, but the Speeders and Thunderstrikes are good platforms too. I'm pleasantly impressed with the new Thunderstrike profile. It's quite good into any Vehicle/Monster Toughness 10 or less, and still pretty decent into tougher targets with its datasheet ability. The AP debuff it puts into a target it hits shouldn't be discounted either.
For those higher toughness targets, he's also got the Eradicator bus. In case you've been sleeping on it, Impulsors have Firing Deck 6 and can carry Gravis models now, so Eradicators can shoot out of them. Even better, most of their anti-Big-Thing rules are attached to their guns rather than coming from datasheet abilities, so they get those tasty Hunter profiles when they shoot out of the party bus. They're not bad into elite Infantry either, as within melta range each gun is going to be doing a minimum of 5 damage, and even outside of melta range they'll be doing 3 damage minimum. This is a package that is cropping up in a lot of successful lists, so if you're struggling with high-toughness targets, you could do worse than investing in the Melta bus.
Just in case someone has the bright idea to have his army run up and punch Nicolo's stuff to death, he's got a Sammy brick and Lion Dad to complicate those efforts. Sammy's bike package is going to be swinging 15 Damage 3 attacks on turns they charge, and Lion Dad's ability to punch things to death is well documented. Handily, both those units also have Mobile, so walls are no impediment to them.
The only other units in Nicolo's list are the pair of Incursor Squads. If you're playing a shooty list, Incursors are a value-add, granting Reroll 1's against a unit they paint for the rest of your shooting. Critically, they don't have to themselves shoot to grant that buff, so they can maintain their Hidden status while doing it. They also still have that Haywire mine thingy. They have to use it in your Shooting phase, but it's also technically not a shooting attack. I think maybe Nicolo is using one of these units to hold down his backfield objective, but that's not super important as he's not playing Take & Hold.
He has good detachment synergy with this list. Darkflight and Ironstorm compliment each other with the units he's chosen, granting them Ignores Cover and To Hit and To Wound rerolls. Most of the Ironstorm stratagems can't be used in this list, but the detachment rule is spicy enough for it to be worthwhile anyway. For his third detachment, he chose Ass Bros, which I think is largely to have Lance on tap from the strat, but I can see the Fight On Death strat being valuable too, and of course a Bros detachment does grant access to Armour of Contempt. I don't think having Assault Doctrine twice a game was an important consideration, as both Lion Dad and Sammy can put themselves in whatever Doctrine they want to be in. Arguably, Tac or Dev Bros might have been equally or more useful, but Ass Bros was not a wrong choice.
Nicolo started the event strong, in the 1st round smashing Ass Bros+Deathwatch+Ironstorm Raven Guard 100-28. 2nd round he crushed Berzerker+Butchers World Eaters (T&H) 100-44. 3rd round he trounced Mont'ka T'au (Priority) 100-58. 4th round he massacred Ass Bros+Deathwatch+TSF Ultramarines 100-31. 5th round he humbled a fellow Dark Angels list, Darkflight+Ironstorm+Stormlance (Recon) 100-60. He maintained the streak to the end, with a 6th round 100-40 bludgeoning of Emp's Choice+Lions+MoM Custodes (T&H). Not only undefeated, but straight 100's! Well done Nicolo!
I literally could do a whole article of lists just on this event, because Dark Angels players took 2nd and 3rd place as well, but we're moving on to another event winning list. Brodie Atkinson used his Assault Brethren+Darkflight Pursuit+Stormlance Task Force (T&H) list to go 5-0 and take the top spot at BrewHammer GT 10. Let's check out his list!
dzngels
Sammael
Ravenwing Command Squad: Imperium's Sword
Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Impulsor
Impulsor
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys: Furious Assault
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys: Furious Assault
Eradicator Squad with melta rifles: 3 chonky melta boys
Eradicator Squad with melta rifles: 3 chonky melta boty
Incursor Squad: 5 spotty boys
Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery
Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery
Land Speeder Vengeance: Nightforged Battery
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Brodie decided to go with good old fashioned Take & Hold for his disposition and built his list accordingly. He's still employing a lot of speed in his list, but has a pair of Deathwing Knight squads to make convincing arguments about holding a pair of objectives. Ass Bros gives a nice buff to their output with the Furious Assault upgrade, giving them Sustained Hits into the targets they don't have Anti into.
Like Nicolo, Brodie has a robust contingent of flying gun platforms, in this case using a trio of Vengeances and a singular Thunderstrike. He doesn't have the Land Speeders, but he's got two of the Melta busses instead of just the one. He's only got the one Incursor squad, but I imagine he can make do with them.
I want to talk about the Sammy brick, because I really like it. With the Ravenwing Champion getting the Character keyword back, Brodie was able to give him Imperium's Sword, really enhancing his ability to punch up. This is a unit that can go extra-fast and do a lot of damage. And, hilariously, the Stormlance has a strat (Wind-Swift Evasion) that lets them make a Normal or Fall Back Move at the end of a Fight phase after they were eligible to fight. That gives Brodie a hammer that can put itself in Assault Doctrine, move a minumum of 16" (12" base Move+2" from the Stormlance detachment rule+1" Advance roll+1" added to Advance rolls) and make a charge, then beat something up and bounce back out 14", through walls when it's advantageous to do so thanks to Sammy granting Mobile. I think it's worth a Detachment point to have this kind of tool in your kit, and it gives Brodie's speeders +2" to Movement on top of that.
Brodie started the event with a pretty convincing 1st round 100-43 against Shadowmark+TSF Raven Guard (Priority). 2nd round he squeaked out a tight 81-78 against Can Co+Hand Necrons (T&H). 3rd round he pummeled SotGW+Ass Bros Space Wolves (T&H) 94-60. 4th round he battered Ass Bros+Deathwatch+TSF Ultramarines (T&H) 100-61. 5th round he clinched his win with a comfortable 95-80 against Berserker+Vessels World Eaters. Good job Brodie!
The third list we're going to look at today belongs to Henry Bearne, who took a Darkflight Pursuit+Ironstorm Spearhead+Stormlance Task Force (Recon) list to the Winchester 40K GT - November 2026, going 5-0 and besting 28 other players for the top spot. Let's take a look at that list!
Be fast, shoot good (copy) (copy) (copy) (copy)
Sammael
Ravenwing Command Squad
Attached: Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Outrider Squad: 3 choppy biker boys
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike: Thundercowl Turbines
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Storm Speeder Thunderstrike
Nephilim Jetfighter: Thundercowl Turbines
Nephilim Jetfighter: Thundercowl Turbines
Land Speeder
Land Speeder
Land Raider Redeemer
Repulsor Executioner
Now this list is a bit different from the last two, despite the Venn Diagram of detachments between the three lists having a lot of overlap. Addressing the similarities first, this illustrates my point about the Stormlance being worth the DP for the uber-mobile Sammy brick. Even without Imperium's Sword, this is a unit that's still capable of inflicting a lot of damage, and can be used to pounce on utility units, murder them, and then bounce out of danger, potentially lather-rinse-repeating all game. There's also the Thunderstrikes and the Land Speeders, which are good tools to have in any list.
Instead of Land Speeders Vengeance, Henry brought a pair of Nephilim Jetfighters to the table. Nephilims have become an interesting option, being able to retain the Avenger mega bolter when it is upgraded to have Nephilim lascannons, that now replace the Twin heavy bolter - if we could have done that all along, the Nephilim would have been a much more popular unit. In addition it packs a couple Blacksword missile shots, which are D3+2 Damage and Anti-Fly 2+, so able to punch up into a lot of targets.
Now, Aircraft function differently from other types of units. They start in Reserve and ordinarily can't Ingress Turn 1, but the Thundercowl Turbines allows them to come in 1st turn. They deploy along a table edge and shoot, and then go back into Reserve at the end of the subsequent opponent's turn. Opposing units can't end a turn within Engagement range of their base and can't Engage them in the Charge phase unless they have Fly. That makes it hard for a lot of units to interact with them. Because of how they enter and leave play, it can be hard to hide units from them, because they can be placed where they can get angles, are on tall flying stems so they can see over a lot of terrain, and have widely spread wings and tails that they can draw LOS from. They can just keep being placed where they can get angles and shoot up units from angles opponents weren't looking to protect. Plus, they are Ravenwing Fly Vehicles, so they gain all the benefits from the Darkflight and Ironstorm detachments.
In addition to all the Ravenwing units, Henry brought a couple of actual tanks in his list. I'm a little surprised to see a Land Raider Redeemer in a list without it having anything to carry into battle, but I'm thinking Henry thought it was worthwhile because it's Toughness 12 with a 2+ save, OC 5, and has a pretty brutal Overwatch, which makes it a good choice to hold the middle of the table. The RepEx, conversely, is good at making life precarious for any Infantry within 24" of it while also having a main gun that can pick up any large target on the table it can draw LOS on, and is probably Henry's choice for sitting on his expansion objective.
Henry is running Recon so he needs some action monkeys. The Land Speeders are the most obvious units for that. He might be using the second Outrider Squad to sit on his backfield objective, but in Recon dispo that's not actually all that important, so they're probably an additional action monkey as needed.
Henry got off to a good start, pummeling Madcap+Brute+Dread Orks (Purge) 100-48 in the 1st round. 2nd round he crushed Cybernetica+Eradication AdMech 100-40. 3rd round he drubbed Ass Bros+Encarmine+TSF Blood Angels 93-61. 4th round he humbled Berzerker+Vessels World Eaters (Purge) 100-71. His last game was his closest, 91-86 against Wrath+Ass Bros Dark Angels (T&H). Way to go Henry! Don't feel too bad for that other Dark Angels player, Garrick Bainbridge, because he went 4-1 and placed 2nd at that event.
I'm going to review one more list, partially because it's not every day we get a weekend with 4 event winners, and partially because it's a significantly different list than the ones we've already looked at. This list, belonging to Pedro Araújo, is an Assault Brethren+Ironclad Champions+Terminator Storm Force (T&H) list, which Pedro went 5-0 and bested 23 other players with at BATALHA DOS CORVOS WARHAMER 40K. Let's check this list out!
Tactical "Dreadnoughts" armour
Azrael
Attached: Company Veterans:4 Awesome eclectic veteran boys
Chaplain in Terminator Armour
Ancient in Terminator Armour
Attached: Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys: Furious Assault
Belial
Ancient in Terminator Armour
Attached: Deathwing Terminator Squad: 10 awesome boltery-fisty boys
Librarian in Phobos Armour
Ballistus Dreadnought: Articifer Sarcophagus
Ballistus Dreadnought: Articifer Sarcophagus
Brutalis Dreadnought: Articifer Sarcophagus
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads
I think this list is built around scamming opponents with defensive abilities, but without having to tie up 2 DP in Wrath to do it. The Compnay Veterans are 4-wound models that have a flat -1 to be Wounded, and when attached to Azrael gain a 4++ save. The Deathwing Knights are 4 wound models with a 2+/4++, 4 Wounds, take -1 Damage, and have a conditional -1 to be Wounded from the Ancient. The Deathwing Knights have a 2+/4++, a conditional -1 to be Wounded from the Ancient, and are admittedly only 3 wounds each but can gain -1 Damage from the Tactical Dreadnought Fortitude strat. The three Dreadnoughts are Toughness 10 with 2+ saves and -1 Damage from the Arty Sarcophagi. Those are a lot of overlapping defensive abilities for opponents to contend with.
This list also has some sneaky offensive buffs in it. For starters there's Azrael giving out Sustained Hits 1, which isn't amazing on Company Heroes, but it's not nothing. Belial gives his attached unit +1 To Wound against Character units, which is a pretty wide swath of units in the game. The really baller units will tend to either have the Character keyword or have Characters attached to them to enhance them. Plus, his unit's melee has Sustained Hits 1 from an Ass Bros upgrade, and the TSF's Merciless Veterans strat can give their shooting Lethal Hits and Sustained Hits 1. Plus, they ignore Hit modifiers. The Chaplain's unit gets Lance when they charge and has Sustained Hits 1 from the the Ass Bros enhancement. The Dreadnoughts get to reroll 1's To Hit from the Ironclad detachment rule and can get Sustained 1 from a strat.
The list is even more mobile than you'd expect at first glance. The Gunship Extraction strat from TSF lets Pedro pick up a Terminator unit and put it in Reserve at the end of his opponent's Fight phase, and Unstoppable Advance can give a Dreadnought the Mobile keyword, so that Brutalis can Kool-Aid-Man it through a wall to get at units opponents were expecting to be safe from being charged by it.
In the 1st round, Pedro administered a 75-48 drubbing to Forgefather's Ass Bros Salamanders (Priority). 2nd round he crushed Grizzled Militarum (Purge) 100-39. 3rd round he humbled No List Space Marines 92-72. 4th round he squeaked out an 82-80 win against Invasion Fleet Nids. He wrapped up the event by going 98-65 against No List Imperial Knights. Way to go Pedro!
Honorable Mentions - hoo boy are there a lot of these!
Kyle McCord went 5-0 and took 2nd out of 64 players at Show Me Showdown Warhammer 40k Championships with his Wrath+Ass Bros (T&H) list.
Nick Hodson went 7-1 and took 3rd out of 177 players at The California Cup 2026 - Warhammer 40K with his Ass Bros+Darkflight+Ironstorm (Purge) list.
Paul Yates went 4-1 and took 2nd out of 32 players at The Cro's Nest 40K Major: The Final Stand with his Deathwatch+ICTF+TSF (Priority) list.
Liam Grossbridge went 4-1 and took 4th out of 34 players at 40k RoGCon GT with his Ass Bros+Darkflight+Stormlance (Recon) list.
Pierre-Loup Lacombe went 4-1 and took 11th out of 100 players at OGRE 2026, Open du Grand Est 4ème EDITION with his Wrath+Ass Bros (T&H) list.
Giacomo Pasquini went 5-1 and took 2nd out of 31 players at Torneo a Terni Adeptus Ternanus with his Ass Bros+Darkflight+Stormlance (T&H) list.
Davide Corona went 5-1 and took 3rd out of 31 players at Torneo a Terni Adeptus Ternanus with his Deathwatch+Ironstorm+Stormlance (Recon) list.
Garrick Bainbridge went 4-1 and took 2nd out of 29 players at the Winchester 40K GT - November 2026 with his Wrath+Ass Bros (T&H) list.
Aaron Knight went 4-1 and took 4th out of 38 players at BrewHammer GT 10 with his Ass Bros+Darkflight+Ironstorm (Purge) list.
Nathan Robertson went 5-0 and took 2nd out of 39 players at Rose City Ruckus Singles with his Wrath+Ass Bros (T&H) list.
Finally, my man Jofonz Bow went 4-1 and took 4th out of 29 players at Bunker Down GT 2026 RBBR with his Darkflight+Stormlance+Tac Bros (Recon) list.
Brethren, I salute you!
Statistics
It was a somewhat slower weekend than we've had recently, with a slew of smaller events, but there were still two events that had 100+ players. Out of those, we had 47 Dark Angels players who played 248 games and won 146 of them, for a too-good 59% win rate. We had 15 X/0-X/1 results, a whopping 14 of which were podium finishes, with 4 event wins out of that.
Wrath of the Rock was the most played Dark Angels unique detachment, with 22 players, the vast majority of whom (15) paired it with Assault Brethren. All but 4 of the Wrath lists were Take & Hold disposition, including all the Wrath+Ass Bros lists. Wrath lists overall earned a very respectable 55% win rate and 4 X-results, 3 of which were podium finishes. All of those were Wrath+Ass Bros lists.
Darkflight Pursuit was only a little less popular than Wrath of the Rock, with 18 players, who earned a startling 63% win rate, 8 podium finishes, and 3 event wins.
The most common combo was Ass Bros+Darkflight+Stormlance with 8 players (6 Recon, 2 Purge). They accounted for 2 of the X-results and 1 of the event wins.
Ass Bros+Darkflight+Ironstorm was used by 5 players (1 T&H, 4 Purge). Of those players, 4 of them literally earned a 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place, and 4th place finish.
One player split the difference and played Darkflight+Ironstorm+Stormlance (Recon), and that hero won his event with it.
Only 4 players used the Inner Circle Task Force. One of those players did go 4-1 and earned a podium finish at his event.
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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