I was thinking about this the other day, and I thought of a few things that Dark Angels need to become a more characterful army. Their looks are second to none, but their rules don't exactly follow suit. Here's what I came up with:
Deathwing: The Deathwing are quite used to going up against insurmountable odds, it's what gave them their bone-white color scheme and that tradition still rings true. To reflect this, all Deathwing should be immune to the effects of the No Retreat! rule. They should also have to select an opponent's HQ at the beginning of the game, against that model and its unit they gain the Preferred Enemy USR as this HQ has information about the Fallen.
Ravenwing: All of them should have the Skilled Rider USR, and furthermore they should always get some kind of save, or have their normal save increased to reflect their skill at dodging incoming fire. Back in 3rd edition, they had a "jink" save that was always on a 6+.
Also, why bother giving Sammael a jetbike when no one else can take one? He should be able to take an Honor Guard, all of whom have jetbikes. The Dark Angels have access to many ancient pieces of equipment, why not more than one bike?
They should be able to take the Mortis Pattern Dreadnought.
They may not get a new codex for a while, maybe I should let my friend who plays Dark Angels to try out these rules and see if they are balanced.
I'd go for basic gear updates as well; Storm Shields to 3++ and Cyclones to Heavy 2 missile launchers at 30 points a head.
ReplyDeleteI'd like variable squad size for the Deathwing, to be honest. I'm not so sure about the preferred enemy HQ, as that would be a big help vs. something like a Hive Tyrant or other melee opponent, but nigh useless for going after, say, an Imperial Guard command squad.
Ravenwing:
I agree with the Skilled Rider thing.
I think that their Land Speeders had a jink save, but not necessarily anyone else.
Thing is, if you start handing out jetbikes...well, if everyone has Skilled Rider, it's almost as good as having a jetbike unless it really is vertically impassable terrain. Sammael's Jetbike is also better off shooting, as it's just got a master-crafted power weapon. The AV14 landspeeder is arguably a bit nastier, for the points.
I'll try out the rules in a friendly game with just you and me.
ReplyDeleteYou're right Raptor1313, I forgot to include the basic updates from which the DA were precluded. Perhaps the Preferred Enemy thing needs some kind of reworking, but I would like it to represent the Deathwing hunt for the Fallen.
ReplyDeleteI'd figure the jetbike squad would really just be for looks, true the rules won't really matter but man it would look awesome.