I’m a big Dark Angels fan. The edgiest of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Warhammer 40,000's poster boys, the Space Marines, half of their number embraced the dark gods and turned to Chaos ten millennia ago, and the remaining loyalists have been penitent ever 🍸since. Committed to hunting down the traitors known as the Fallen above all else, these robed angels have biblical inspiration – they hunt the enigmatic Luther most of all – and a more interesting story of heresy and self-hatred than any other Chapter.
It helps that the Deathwing are the coolest Terminators going, too. Painting their armour bone white as a symbol of their forthcoming sacrifice in💖 every battle, the Dark Anജgels have always been able to field all-Terminator or all-mounted (Ravenwing) forces on the tabletop. The low model-count, highly specialised force is trickier to play than your standard jack-of-all-trades Space Marines, but more rewarding for it too.
The Dark Angels Codex for 10th Edition arrives with new Deathwing Knights, a new Belial model, and an upgrade sprue for regular Deathwing Terminators. There are also new models for Inteꩲrrogator-Chaplain Asmodai and Inner Circle Companions, but there’s no release date for them just yet. You ✱can read my full thoughts about the models themselves here, but now we’re going to focus on the rules and lore changes in the Codex itself.
Dark Angels Codex Rules, Unit, And Points Changes
The most important change in the Dark Angels 10th Edition Codex is the removal of some key units. There is no more Deathwing Command🔴 Squad, no Talonmaster, nor Strikemaster. Surprisingly, seeing as its bone-coloured counterpart was removed, the Ravenwing Command Squad remains.
The only addition to the Codex is the Inner Circle Companions, who can be taken in squads of three or six (105𓆏 or 210 points respectively), all armed with Calibanite Greatswords. These nasty weapons have four Strength 6, AP -1 attacks. You can choose between two profiles, Strike or Sweep. The former inflicts lethal hits with Damage 2, and the latter sustained hits with Damage 1. If there’s a character in the unit, however, enemy rolls to hit against them suffer a -꧅1 penalty and if they attack a character in return, they get a +1 buff to hit.
There’s been a lot of talk of Deathwing Knights losing their iconic Maces of Absolution, but it’s not true. The elite unit has two weapon profiles, plus two more for the Knight Master. Power Weapons work a🐷s standard in the vanilla Marine Codex, but Maces trade one fewer attack and AP for Damage 2.
The flail is, sadly, gone completely, but the Master’s Great Weapon of ꧋the Unforgiven has five Strength 6, AP -2, Damage 2 hits with devastating wounds and sustained hits♕. He can swap that out for a Relic Weapon, which does six Strength 7, AP-2, Damage 2 hits without the special rules. The points for Deathwing Knights have increased significantly, moving from 235 to 290, and you can only take them in squads of five. The rules for the Watcher in the Dark remain unchanged.
The Dark Angels’ special characters have all shifted points a little, with Lion El’Jonson and Azrael the biggest winners, decreasing by 15 each. The Ravenwing Command Squﷺad has increased by an astonishing 40 points, up to 185, and can only be taken in squads of three now.
Dark Angels Codex Lore Changes
As well 🏅as updating the datasheets to use the Dark Angels on the tabletop, the Codex has a small section dedicated to the Chapter’s lore and ongoing place in the 41st millennium. Since the Lion returned from his slumber (and won the fan vote for best Warhammer model of 2023), the hunt for the Fallen has re💦sumed with renewed vigour. However, something’s different about the hunt.
Lion El’Jonson seems to believe there is a mole in his ranks. He isꦏ forgiving the Fallen, now calling them Risen, and keeping them close. The Primarch holds secret meetings with the interred Fallen between their interrogations, and sometimes the prisoners are nowhere to be found after this chat. I wonder if the Inner Circle Companions, with their Heresy-era black armour and vows of silence, are Risen now sworn fealty to the Lion anew.
This is exactly what Luther predicted the Lion would do back in the fourth edition Codex, and in the novel Luther: First of the Fall🐷en⛄ he said he would only repent for his sins in front of the Lion himself. Does the Lion even know Luther still lives and is imprisoned on The Rock, or is Azrael keeping that knowledge hidden? I can’t help but think Luther has a part to play in the future for the Dark Angels, and Azrael and Jonson’s secrecy may sow the seeds of distrust, and even split the Chapter all over again.
Games Workshop provided the model featured in this article.
