GENERAL STRATEGY & TACTICS

COMMAND PRIMUS By ( Shadow Guard )

This article has been reproduced with kind permission from the author.  It's use here is not intended as a challenge to the original authors copyright and is reproduced here for the sole purpose of enhancing the Dark Angel spirit and the warhammer 40,000 experience

HEADQUARTERS units: As the headquarters unit, I choose a Master of Dark Angels to lead your first force. He will be accompanied by a command squad and all will be mounted in a rhino APC. One of the common mistakes made by players is to create a very extensively tooled up command squad worth a lot of points, and use them in a relatively low points game. I have moved away from that and have created this unit with a few roles in mind while keeping the points cost down. Master:  Let's take the master. You can pick one of the assault squad troopers to represent this commander, with the running legs, leading your army. It is here that you will realise the value of the SW Accessory Sprue. Pick the power weapon from the said sprue for the master. Other items you can use include grenades and a plasma pistol from the assault squad. Command Squad: I have selected a five-man command squad, three of whom will be upgraded to apothecary, techmarine and standard bearer for no extra points cost. This also allows you to arm them with weapons and wargear from the armoury. You can identify these by the simple expediency of colouring their shoulder pads (or their entire armour if you so wish) in the colours of their vocation  red for techmarine, white for apothecary and gols for the standard bearer. Use the powerfist from the SW sprue to arm the standard bearer. The techmarine and apothecary are armed with stormbolters. The easiest way to make this is to stick two bolters side-by-side. This effectively doubles the units fire-power when on the move. Model two more marines using the remains of the tactical combat squad or assault squad and give one of the the meltagun from the SW sprue and the other a standard boltgun. Rhino APC: The Rhino APC is fielded as standard, with one stormbolter and the essential extra armour, smoke and searchlight. This HQ units is your most powerful close combat unit, but more than that it is your most effective mobile unit. It is able to charge in and take objectives, respond to enemy threats quickly and counter assault any enemy break through, especially in conjunction with the dreadnought. Now you have a very respectable and effective battle force to start with. It is well balanced with firepower, mobility, assault and staying power. It should be effective in most scenarios and allow you to gain your first experiences as commander of a Dark Angels force. Stage V: Expansion and Personalising Your First Army: The list I have previously above could easily be used to create a standard Codex Spacemarine army except for the point differences in the RW landspeeder and the Master of the force. However, now I would like to point out ways in which you can personalise your army to reflect the Dark Angel philosophy. One of the more enjoyable aspect of playing Dark Angels is to tailor your games to fit with the rich background and style of the chapter. The only change I would consider to the current list is to swap the two missile launchers for Plasmacannons and the flamers to Plasmaguns. I will detail how to set about this after discussion the next step to expansion, adding a further 500 points. The following is the next 500 points I would suggest you consider:

HQ Promote Master to Grandmaster with Sword of Secrets and artificer armour Add 3 tactical Marines to the command squad Total HQ Addition = +105 TROOPS Tactical Squad III (90) Tactical marines x 5; Lascannon Tactical Squad IV (90) Tactical marines x 5; Lascannon FAST ATTACK Attack Bike Squadron (140) Attack Bike with MM x 2 HEAVY SUPPORT Whirlwind (83) whirlwind multi launcher, EA/Sm (8) TOTAL additional points = 508 points.

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You can use the three tactical marines left over from the combat squad (after the creation of the original command squad) to beef up the command squad to its current strength. Promotion of the Master to a Grandmaster and the power sword to the Sword of Secrets doesn't really require any additional modelling. This then leaves us requiring the following: 10 tactical marines 2 lascannons, 2 plasmacannons 2 plasmaguns 2 attack bikes 1 whirlwind As for the attack bikes and whirlwind launcher there is no otherway but to purchase them outright. The attack bikes come individually for £10.00 while you have two options for the whirlwind. The old style whirlwind based on the Rhino Mk I costs £20.00. However you may wish to use the new Rhino Mk II chassis which will set you back  £15.00, to which you have the choice of purchasing the whirlwind components in metal (old style components in total costing £16.00 ) or the newer forge world one costing  £10.00. I would strongly encourage the newer style rhino and the forge world parts which would cost you £20.00

+ 250 Expansion Scout Squad (175) Spacemarine Scouts x 10 Sniper rifles x 5 (25), Missile Launcher (20) Landspeeder Suqadron (70) landspeeder with MM (15) TOTAL additional points = 245 points.          TOTAL LIST = 1744 points

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The ideal choice of purchase at this point is the Dark Angel Tactical Squad box. (£18.00) This little beauty comes with ten men and includes a plasmacannon (with DA markings) a plasmagun and a robed Dark Angel sergeant wielding a chainsword and a plasmapistol. This compares very favourably with purchasing a standard tactical squad box (£15.00) and buying the extra components for the plasmagun (£5.00) and plasmagun (£1.00). You could decide to use the robed sergeant figure to be your Grandmaster, swapping the chainsword to a powersword and the PP to a BP.All you then need to do is purchase two lascannon marines and one plasmacannon marine as individual blisters and order another plasmagun for £1.00 from mailorder, or you could simply leave a flamer in the second tactical squad. This now completes your fully Dark Angelised 1500 point army. There are many more options for you to choose from and many ways to create a balanced starter army, but I think this one is as cost effective as it gets while providing you with a solid base to start your first battles. As you expand your army further, consider doing so in modules of 500 points, each with a different slant to it, so that you can mix and match depending on the opponent you face and the scenarios played. The following lists two 250 point expansions to the above army list as an example. I will not go in to details as by the time come to building this your own experiences will dictate the form of your force.

+ 250 Expansion Addition to tactical Squad III (99) Razorback (70), tw Lascannon (20) EA/Sm/SL (9) Addition to tactical Squad IV (99) Razorback (70), tw Lascannon (20) EA/Sm/SL (9) Addition to tactical Squad II (69) Rhino (50), SB, PMSB (10) EA/Sm/SL (9) TOTAL additional points = 245 points.                    TOTAL LIST = 1989 points

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