I've
been playing for just over a year after the Dark Vengeance box set was release with
the onset of 6th Edition. Before picking
it up I looked into the fluff of the different armies and really liked the
secretive nature of the Dark Angels, so the box set was well worth the price. Since then my army has expanded exponentially
to include over 50 terminators, 30+ bikes, and at least 4 squads of
marines. There is also a slew of
support, vehicles, and other fun units to be thrown into the mix.
I've
been running a Ravenwing army on and off for a few months now and have been
really enjoying how they play, even if I don't have a high win percentage with
them. They have a good intimidation
factor with the number of T5 models on the field, at the cost of model count
though. Their ability to move quickly
and hit hard is a huge appeal to me.
They can shoot and assault with reckless abandon them run out of combat
giggling as their opponent wonders what just hit them. In recent games I've really been focusing on
using a Ravenwing Command Squad with Banner of Devastation. I have also started to implement a Ravenwing
Darkshroud into my list. The way these
two units work with the rest of a Ravenwing force is great and will be expanded
upon further. I don't profess myself as
a tactical genius so I tend to make silly mistakes quite frequently, but I tend
to have fun in the process, which is what I enjoy about the game. Without further ado, I shall delve into my
thoughts of these two units.
Let's
start with the Ravenwing Command Squad.
It is a squad of 3 Ravenwing
Black Knights that can only be unlocked by taking a HQ unit on a bike or
Sammael. To run a Ravenwing force, Sammael
is truly your only option, but I digress. Black Knights come with TL Plasma Talons on
their bikes which really outperform plasma guns at shorter range due to the TL
aspect of them. To get the same effect
you would need a level 1 Librarian on a bike with Divination and have to get
the psychic test to pass. It's doable,
but you still won't get the same volume of fire as you would with the Black
Knights. The Command Squad has the
ability to add two more bike to the unit to bring them up to five total, which
really helps increase the survivability of one key member in the squad, the
banner carrier. The banner carrier is
the soul of my army and what it's built around.
It forces me to stay within a small area but it adds so much additional support
with the Banner of Devastation. If a
unit is within six inches of the banner carrier it gains the Salvo 2/4
rule. This is amazing on bikes as they
are relentless and not counting as moved for shooting means that each bike in
the unit will get 4 shots from its twin-linked boltgun. For a full squad, that's 24 shots, four times
the amount of a standard squad between 12 and 24 inches, and twice as many
shots as a unit between 1 and 12 inches.
It's very important to keep this unit alive so I'm going to start trying
out keeping an apothecary in the unit for the Fell No Pain he would give them
in case of a wound.
Last
game I added in a model that I was very apprehensive about since they FAQ'd the
rules on it very quickly, the Ravenwing Darkshroud. It does exactly what it sounds like, it
shrouds the area in darkness giving any unit within 6" of it the Stealth
rule. Unfortunately it no longer gives
the Darkshroud itself Shrouded. The
great part of this is that the cover save stacks onto the Jink save that the
bikes get for moving, effectively giving them a 4+ cover save just for moving
and staying close to the Darkshroud. For
units with the Skilled Rider rule, this gives them a 3+ cover save! I kept this centered behind my Command Squad
and gave every unit in my army a +1 to their cover save for nearly the entire
game. This was very beneficial as my
opponent had quite a bit of plasma and melta which was ignoring my armor
saves. In addition to this effect it
gives any unit that is in an assault within 12 inches a +1 to their assault
result. This manage to keep one of my
units in assault even those they lost a model and my opponent didn't that
phase. I was very surprised at how well
that ability performed with the rest of my units. I realize that it won't be beneficial against
flamers and other weapons that ignore cover, looking at you Tau and Eldar, but
I have other units in my arsenal that can put the pain into them instead.
I feel
like I will continue to use the two units in my Ravenwing army and possibly
expand to a second Darkshroud in the future for large point games so I can
spread them out more effectively to maximize coverage. They Command Squad will be beefed out to the
full 5 man unit and keep that wonderful Banner of Devastation. I'm going to try to keep track of how the
army performs and try to develop my tactical skills to help them really be the
fearsome force that they appear when on the table.
