Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Dark Angels (section)

==Allies==

===Battle Brothers===

*'''Black Templar:''' Now part of Vanilla Marines, but don't stop there. Black Templars have gotten better now they have access to the new shiny stuff Vanilla gets. Plus they still kept some of their traditional feats (Land Raider Crusaders are still Dedicated Transports to Crusader Squads). Crusader Squads are the Beatstick, throw in some Neophyte with Shotguns and they can be both a Dakka and chopy unit. Combine this with the Flyers they have, it makes them somewhat a versitile ally choice. Although if you want pure melee punch, Blood Angels can do this better. Still, Black Templars are not a bad choice.

*'''Blood Angels:''' Probably the best CQC Allies for the DA. A lot of their units are fast moving and hits foes really hard and they aren't bad at shooting. But in all honesty, we have a lot of options to gun Xenos/Heretics down dead, so you should just focus on stuff that rapes in melee and shit like that. Sadly, sanguinary priests blood chalice works only with BA units, so no FNP and Furious Charge to your Deathwing knights. However Shield of Sanguinius works with all units and Darkshroud gives Stealth to all friendly units, not only DA ones. So you can give all your army a nice +4 cover save. FNP Fearless Marines with 4++ save and maybe pseudo Fleet from Azrael are great also.

*'''Imperial Guard:''' A great opportunity of mending the fails of your Codex. Forget flakk missiles, Dark Talons and Nephilim Fighters, just paint black a Vendetta, draw some feathers on the wings and call it Dark vendetta, for instance. You can even take a squadron of 2 or 3. And,of course, you can take a blob of guards, join Azrael and have 30-50 miniatures with ++4 save, Fearless, and Furious Charge. Weeee!

*'''Vanilla Marines:''' They're basically the exact same as Dark Angels: shooty and power armour. Hell, Greenwing are identical in points and near-identical in loadout. The new Codex brought in new units like Centurions and decent anti-aircraft tanks in addition to the units that Dark Angels couldn't get in the first place, like half-decent aircraft, masters of the forge, sternguard & vanguard veterans, ironclad dreadnoughts, scout bikers, thunderfire cannons as well as detachment-wide chapter tactics, all of which allows you to tailor any allies detachment to make up for any deficiencies in your own force. Or vice versa to make things extra interesting. Also, don't miss Chapter Master Smashbane, which is damn good HtH unit in Ravenwing and Greenwing.

===Allies of Convenience===

*'''Eldar:''' Eldar aren't as much of a no-brainer ally as they used to be, especially since Runes of Warding were nerfed into the ground. They still have greast options ;a Spiritseer with Conceal and a unit of Rangers makes a tough-to-shift, relatively-killy unit for objective camping. The jetbike units and Wave Serpents are FUCKING AMAZING and make an excellent pairing with the Ravenwing.

*'''Grey Knights:''' Generally the same as our Deathwing, except they're psychic-aholic rather than Gunzerker. We can bring Terminators as troops like they do, except theirs are basically cheaper unless they go overboard with them. Overall there are better options, but taking them can be fun if you're going against CSM and Daemons, so you can take on the Chaos Marines, and the Grey Knights can rape Daemons REAL hard! Don't forget Coteaz and his retinue with LOTS of cheap special weapons.

*'''Sisters of Battle:''' A surprisingly good choice fluffwise as well as crunchwise. Angry battle nuns fighting with angry battle monks? Looks like sunday school let out early this week. The current actd of faith system has crippled the army as a primary detachment, but makes the sisters an essentially awesome supplementary army for almost everybody. For Dark Angels specifically they bring a lot to the table: strong mobile close combat, ally with sisters and bring Saint Celestine and some seraphim. The Avenger strike fighter is a good choice. Sisters 6++ save not enough? why not stand them next to one of our cheap as hell Librarians sporting a power field generator and boost them to a 4++. And lastly who doesn't want to get the Sisters chocolate flamers all up into our plasma peanut butter?

*'''Space Wolves:''' Lets see what wolfies offer to us: psychic protection that sadly also affect our psykers, cheap servos with the possibility of taking one special weapon on 5 man squads, razorspam, scoring terminators with mixed arms, missile spam, divided fire and giant wolverine steeds. Pretty solid, but Dark Angels can achieve most of those things on their own, and instead of wolves have bikes which look less stupid in the future. And Dark Angels at least have bad fliers and expensive flak missiles which are better than no fliers nor AA weapons. Dark Talons or Black Knights Grenade Launchers however combo well with Jaws of the World Wolf. If Space Wolves would be brothers in arms they will be better allies (just imagine Azrael with 15 Blood Claws with 4++ save, Fearless and Furious Charge).

*'''Tau Empire:''' Not a bad choice, especially since they just got a new codex. As usual, their basic philosophy is "extra fire power that can help wreck shit at long range". The Crisis suits are golden, and goes well with a Ravenwing list, as they're both mobile and shooty with Plasma Rifles and other useful weapons. Hammerheads are also a worthwhile choice if you choice the Railgun option, and fire warriors with their Pulse Rifles will prove to be better than the Boltgun. Play them correctly, and the enemy won't be alive to get close enough. They should be too occupied to be dealing with Fire Warriors, at the least. Unless you're going plasma-heavy, as they are probably the one army with more plasma than you (take a Hammerhead with tau Ion Cannon and disruption pods. Do it!). Ion has been introduced, and it is soooo much better. Ion Cannon now has a new trick up its sleeve. At S8 AP3 Large Blast when overcharged, nothing short of a TEQ will get an armour save. They also have the best long-range anti-tank in the game, so they can provide fire support for your Spess Mehreens. (Look to Riptide if you're interested in Long Range Support).

===Desperate Allies===

*'''Necrons:''' Another shooty list aside from Tau and Guards. Necrons can provide you a catacomb command barge beatstick, something sufficiently terrifying to keep your enemy from moving into assault for an extra round or two (especially if they're using an expensive HQ choice). Necron troops choices can serve as highly efficient response groups, combining four haywire shots and ten rapid-fire gauss zaps with one of the most universally effective fliers in the game for a meager 190 points. Would you rather have two terminators and one assault cannon, or one annihilation barge (90 points for a tesla destructor, tesla cannon, and AV13 until they start beating on it)? To put the cherry on top, none of these units really need or want to be close to the rest of your army, so you can easily step around the one eye open rule. Want an ally that can give you your daily doses of speed, anti-armour, and AP2 melee without stealing all your thunder(points)?  Look no further than these badass space Egyptians.

*'''Orks:''' Want a horde?  The orks love pushy melee fighting. Though they might be slow, a footslogged group of standard ork boys can shield your more powerful and expensive units with a wall of cheap meat. They'll provide a screen against assaults (which your troops can then jump in on, if you so desire), and a 5+ cover save. The one eye open rule is pretty irritating here, but 6th edition's premeasuring rule should let you keep that separation, and even if you can't... well, it's only a 1/6 chance anyway, and it doesn't occur in melee combat.

===Other Detachments===
====Inquisition (Battle Brothers)====

Why haven't you taken it yet? Seriously, you get 3 Elites Choices (Read: 3 units of Inquisitorial Henchmen) and each of them can take a transport like a Rhino, or a Chimera or a Land Raider or a Valkyrie. That makes it worth it right up front, but with the right load out, they can fill holes in your army, so this should be your first choice right here, but their biggest draw is that they allow you to take an additional allied detachment as well. Consider taking a Inquisitor in a Valkyrie and a tarpit or two of Acolytes, while still having a full Guard artillery battery and doing some screening with large blocks of bolter brothers; or a four lascannon Devastator squad buffed by a psyker Inquisitor while Space Wolves take care of the melee combat.  If you want to be a douche, attach an Inquisitor to Dev Centurions w/ Grav Cannons and roll for Perfect Timing.  If there's something your current army is lacking, the Inquisition has something that can compensate for it.

====Imperial Knights (Battle Brothers)====

An Errant Knight titan is probably a good bet for players looking for some reliable long range anti-tank/anti-TEQ killer.   The Paladin Knight brings some long range high strength high AP shooting (Double shot battle cannon? Hell yeah) to an army that can really use some for only two termies more than two Leman Russ Tanks.  And these things score (well, maybe, the Facebook post wasn't clear with whether the allied ones score), so charge him at the enemy lines faster than you can say DISTRACTION CARNIFEX. Thanks to their Str. D CC arm, they can reliably deal with with most monstrous creatures with ease, barring Skarbrand and maybe a Wraithknight. Also, Seer/Screamer-Star or any other re-rollable 2+ bullshit?  Meet D-Weapon. If you fight a Riptide heavy list, <s>these might become your best friend</s> <s>you still cannot catch the fuckers.</s> Bitch please, you have a 12'' movement and a 2D6 charge. The Riptide has a 6'' move and a 2D6 jump, and limited space to escape with given how they'll be hiding at the back like sissies. Plus, they're shit at killing the Knight.

====Legion of the Damned (Battle Brothers)====
Because it is now a Codex in its own right, Dark Angels can troll themselves by taking [[Fallen Angels|mysterious Astartes who appear of no-where and disappear just as quickly]]. You couldn't take them before, so now this is a treat. Like the Inquisition codex, the LotD can be taken as an additional detachment separate from the Allied detachment which does not interfere with your other allies selections.

You only have one unit, but you can bring up to 4 of them. You get Fear, Fearless, Slow and Purposeful, 3++, and all shooting Ignores Cover. Yes, all of it, including any special or heavy weapons. They are also one of the 2 units that can take Heavy Flamers. As a Dark Angel you will be used to things Deep Striking, meaning you can one-two punch a combination following a Deathwing Assault. On the downside they can't be joined by Independent Characters (not that you'd need to) and you don't care about chapter tactics, since that is a vanilla thing. Unfortunately everything these guys do, your [[Deathwing]] can also do and in some cases do better, and in many cases your terminators can score while 3++ is just as vulnerable to high volumes of high AP fire (lasguns/bolters) as greenwing are. The big draw here is Ignores Cover, which when coupled with the flexible armament of a tactical squad essentially makes them just that: A very good (non-scoring) alternative to a Tactical Squad.

*'''Animus Malorum''': Sergeant Centurius' soul-eating skull gives the bearer and his unit FnP, and any unit which fails a Fear, Morale, or Pinning check within 12" of the bearer has a randomly chosen model immediately removed as a casualty with no saves allowed (although LoS! can still be used). Every model that is removed this way grants a +1 modifier to the FnP roll (up to a 2+) for the remainder of that turn. At only 35 points for a sergeant to use it, it's a steal.
*With the increasing amount of low AP weaponry and cover ignoring that is 6th these guys have some merit. They can contest and mow things down. Strike them near things with low AP weapons (Give them a Plasma Cannon to see S7 AP 2 Ignores Cover Blast) or the backfield and watch them turn firefights around. They will die to massed fire (But then again, what in this game doesn't?) but can tank low volume high power hits. Sure, you can minmax a list and leave them at home but how many of you are playing in world class tournaments and need 1d4chan tactics? They are good, but not uber. Most of all, they are fun.
*Pro-Tip: You can use them as mobile cover for any troops and/or assault screens, especially if they have the Animus and/or rolled Spectral Bulwark.

===Dataslate Formations===

*'''Astartes Storm Wing''' - Your opportunity to get decent flyers in your army without paying the allies tax. One Stormraven and two Stormtalons, customisable the way you want. Unfortunately due to ''very specific'' wordings of the rules, your units may not embark upon the Stormraven at all. Nor do these units benefit from ''Chapter Tactics'', ''(so no Iron Hands [[cheese]])''. Despite all this, this formation gives you an impressive amount of firepower from the skies that you could otherwise not get.

*'''Reclusiam Command Squad''' - Erm... okay, you get a Codex Space Marines Command Squad that you must tool up with the regular options and take a Chaplain along with it, for this you the Crusader USR and unlimited hatred. To be honest there's no real need to take this. Since your own command squads are already more varied and your Interrogator Chaplains are better. Though if you needed a half-decent beatstick with chapter tactic of your choice, you could do worse. But then why not go the whole nine yards and actually have a Codex Marines allied detachment?

*'''[[Cypher]]''' - NO IDIOT, YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM. However he is worth a substantial mention in that if any of your opponents bring him, you Dark Angels players get a few benefits to even the playing field. DO NOT FORGET THEM. '''First:''' All Inner Circle Members get Zealot and are now stand-in Chaplains and your army got a little bit better in melee. Also this zealotry is not lost if <s>Cypher</s>THE HIGH RANKING TRAITOR is defeated. '''Second:''' If <s>Cypher</s>THE HIGH RANKING CHAOS SCUM goes down anywhere within D6" of one of your Dark Angels, you get 3 Victory Points at the end of the battle, possibly a game winner. Most of your special characters can comfortably take him down in close combat (especially with Hatred). If you're not aiming directly for him you're obviously a TRAITOR AND MUST BE PURGED. '''Third:''' Do not forget that your opponent's Warlord's leadership is reduced by one just for including <s>Cypher</s>THE HIGH RANKING FILTHY HERETICAL TRAITOR. This can be extremely important for things like Psychic powers, or Ld bubbles. Unfortunately now that you know the weaknesses of the fallen, the Deathwing will be at your door momentarily to either purge or recruit you.