Dark Angels Special Rules and Wargear

Hi everyone

As the bunnies dark angel collector I am very excited to finally see some rules and rites of war for the 1st legion as I was feeling a little unloved by Forge World.
So I figured I would share with you all my thoughts on the new special rules and wargear presented in book 6.

SPECIAL RULES

Mastery of the blade
When assaulting any dark angel with a sword type weapon (ie power sword, chain sword, combat blade) fighting a model with an equal ws the dark angel strikes on a 3+. Personally I really like this rule it ties in with the calibanite warrior knight ethos and will be effective against both xenos and other legionaries.

Covenant of Death
At the the end of the game if your opponent has equal to or more units left on the board the opposing force gets an additional d3 victory points. fleeing units not included. Although I'm not over the moon about this rule it will be fun for both sides in a battle and you have to take the rough with the smooth I suppose.

LEGION SPECIFIC WARGEAR

The 1st legion has access to a variety of unique weaponry which fit their status as a template for the more specialised legions that were to follow. They possessed weaponry from the unification wars of ancient Terra, relics and technologies of great potency that were never passed on to the other legions.

Calibanite war blade
Any Dark Angel who has a power sword as part of their wargear may exchange it for a Calibanite war blade for free which gives a bonus to strength in hand to hand combat.

Terranic greatsword
Any Dark Angel Praetor, Centurion or Consul with a power fist in their wargear may instead take a terranic greatsword for a small points cost. This is a two handed weapon with instant death and a boost to strength in hand to hand combat.

Both of the above pieces of wargear fit in well with the knightly theme of the Dark Angels though the terranic greatsword may not be everyone's first choice it is nice and fluffy.

Plasma repeater
Any Dark Angel with a plasma gun as part of their wargear may instead take a plasma repeater for a points cost this a salvo weapon with 2 or 3 shots is twin linked but is only strength 6. This is a great upgrade in my opinion and goes well with the legions love of plasma weaponry. I will definitely use them in my army list as an anti infantry unit.

Special issue ammunition

Stasis shells
Any Dark Angels model equipped with a grenade or missile launcher may take Stasis shells for a small points cost these shells have the special rule Stasis anomaly any unit hit by this weapon suffer a -1 penalty to their weapon skill and initiative until the end of the turn mwahaha!! These shells will be fantastic for softening up targets for advancing hand to hand units.

Molecular acid shells
Any Dark Angel including dreadnoughts with a heavy bolter or twin linked heavy bolter can take Molecular acid shells for a small points cost these have the poison(2+) rule and have d6 armour penetration. Again another really nice addition great against pretty much anything fleshy.

This concludes my look at the special rules and wargear for the 1st legion in my next post I will be looking at the rites of war in depth.

Castiel