It’s day two of GW’s advent calendar of shiny new Warhammer 40k detachments, and the Dark Angels add the Lion’s Blade Task Force to their roster, in addition to their three codex detachment options (and the generic Space Marine choices). The headline here is the return of the Ravenwing, in good news for DA players with lots of bikes on the shelf.
At first look, it doesn’t look as explosive as Sunday’s Death Guard Flyblown Host – but it’s an interesting narrative pick for Dark Angels players, with some powerful Enhancements for your characters.
Revealed via GW’s Warhammer Community site on Monday, this new Warhammer 40k detachment dumps regular marines in favor of pairing fast-moving Ravenwing bike squads with slower, hard-hitting elite Deathwing terminators. It’ll be followed by a new Tyranids detachment on Tuesday, December 3, according to GW.
The Lion’s Blade Task Force’s classic ‘dual wing’ approach is a tricky strategy to pull off, but one that leans hard into the strong ‘medieval knights’ theme that dominates Dark Angels lore: charge your noble cavalry into enemy lines, pin them down, then pulverise them with heavy infantry.
As per normal for Warhammer 40k 10th edition, you get one core detachment rule; four Enhancements to buff characters; and six unique Stratagems. I’ll briefly break down the new rules here, and explain how they work in plain terms. TLDR: Ravenwing have a purpose again, and many of the new tools are very cool and fluffy – if you can put them to work.
Detachment Rule – In the Lion’s Claws
The detachment rule has two parts – one applying to your Ravenwing bikes, the other to your Deathwing termies:
- When a non-monster, non-vehicle enemy unit Falls Back from your Ravenwing units, they have to make a Desperate Escape test (with a minus one to the roll if they’re Battle-shocked).
- Your Deathwing units get plus two to their charge roll if the unit they’re charging is already in Engagement Range with a Ravenwing unit.
The core strategy is pretty clear: use your Ravenwing bikers (ideally tougher ones like Ravenwing Knights or even Black Knights) to tag the enemy, then get your heavy melee hitters the Deathwing Knights to charge in and smash them up as quickly as possible, before the comparatively weaker bikes are all dead.
Enhancements
Calibanite Armaments – 15 points
The bearer’s melee weapons get plus one to their Damage characteristic.
Straight-up brilliant stuff. This detachment will rely on coordinated melee punch to win, and giving a character an extra pip of damage is going to help them tear through targets.
Lord of the Hunt – 15 points
The bearer’s unit can fall back, shoot, and charge in the same turn, and gets to re-roll all Desperate Escape tests.
Since this detachment relies on using Ravenwing advance units to pin down enemies for Deathwing charges, this could be very useful to make sure your bikes are in the right place at the right time to set up a crucial terminator assault.
Stalwart Champion – 25 points
The bearer’s unit gets plus one to Objective Control as long as it’s not Battle-shocked (can only be given to a Captain, Chaplain, or Lieutenant).
Whatever Warhammer 40k faction you’re playing, in 10th, every army needs at least one unit that’s well set up to either cap an objective and sit on it to the bitter end, or zip about nabbing objectives out of the enemy’s reach. Pop this on a Deathwing character, and their unit will fulfil the first role beautifully – or give it to a Ravenwing character for the latter.
Fulgus Magna – 25 points
For Deathwing models only. Once per battle, while out of combat, the bearer’s entire unit can be removed from the table at the end of your opponent’s turn, and put in Strategic Reserves (ready to deep strike in on your turn, anywhere on the board).
Definitely the best character add-on in the detachment, this gives one of your Deathwing Knights units a Grey Knights-style repositioning move that could suddenly present a very scary threat right where your opponent doesn’t want it.
Stratagems
Overpowering Exaction – 1 CP
Once per Battle Round, in the command phase or at the start of the fight phase, you can pick an enemy unit in combat with one of yours, and force them to take a Battle-shock test. If your unit was Deathwing or Ravenwing, the enemy unit takes a minus one to the roll.
This one is situational, but could come in handy, either to stop your opponent using Fights First stratagems to win a combat – or to regain control of an objective at the beginning of your turn, so you can complete an action on it.
Armour of Contempt – 1 CP
When one of your units is targeted by an enemy in the shooting or fight phase, reduce the AP of all incoming attacks by one until the end of the phase.
A classic Imperial ‘damage control’ strat, this is a key tool for loads of Space Marine lists, and will be essential here, especially for keeping your Ravenwing bikes alive long enough for their Deathwing backup to arrive.
Strength in Unity – 1 CP
Used when an enemy unit targets one of yours in the Fight phase, you get one or both of the following:
- If that enemy unit is in Engagement Range with one of your Ravenwing units, it gets minus one to hit rolls this phase
- If that enemy unit is in Engagement Range with one of your Deathwing units, it gets minus one to wound with weapons of higher Strength than the target unit’s Toughness
You can’t use this and Armor of Contempt on the same unit in the same phase, which makes sense – that would make for some wildly OP survivability. But it’s still potentially very powerful if you’ve pulled off one of the combined Ravenwing/Deathwing assaults this detachment relies on, giving you an extra edge in the resulting scrap.
Knights of Iron – 1 CP
Used in your movement or charge phase, this lets one Ravenwing unit from your army move, advance, or charge straight through any terrain features in its way.
This key strat removes one of the biggest barriers to running Ravenwing in a Dark Angels army: big ol’ buildings and ruins blocking your path and stopping your bikes from getting to the front in time to do their best work. Now you can use cover on your approach, before launching a devastating charge right through the terrain.
The fluff description is excellent, too: your bikes “surge through seemingly impassable terrain, smashing through rubble and ruin to unleash the wrath of the Unforgiven”.
Illuminating Fire – 1 CP
Used when one of your Ravenwing units targets an enemy unit within 12 inches in the shooting phase. All Deathwing units get plus one to wound when shooting the same target this phase.
Unless you’re bringing Deathwing dreadnoughts and vehicles, this is unlikely to be a key tool, as this detachment is more reliant on getting into combat than the Deathwing and Ravenwing’s generally mid shooting. Still, it’s nice to have in the right circumstances.
Inescapable Wrath – 2 CP
At the end of your opponent’s charge phase, if you have a Deathwing infantry or walker unit within six inches of an enemy unit(s) (and it would be eligible to charge if it was your turn), you can declare a charge on that unit(s) immediately.
This one is probably not going to come up every game (especially if you haven’t taken Azrael to keep your CP topped up) but, assuming you do keep some points saved up and get your positioning right, it’s going to make your opponent think twice about trying to charge you off objectives.
Summary
Ravenwing units have long been left on the sidelines of most Dark Angels armies for their unimpressive battlefield effectiveness, and this detachment doesn’t do much for that, except for the Knights of Iron strat making them less likely to get shot to pieces on the way in. Your bikes are still going to be the weak point opponents will look to exploit.
But, taken in combination, the enhancements and stratagems provide a set of options that might let you stage combined Deathwing/Ravenwing attacks that’ll flatten anything, and in a hugely satisfying way. At the very least, this is a fine opportunity for Dangles players to dust off their old winged battle-bikes for another ride to ruin (or rather, through the ruins).
It’s sad that the titular Warhammer 40k primarch, Lion El Jonson, doesn’t play a role in it, but hey, you can’t have everything.
You can download the Lion’s Blade Task Force detachment PDF free from GW right now, alongside the Death Guard’s Flyblown Host PDF.
Will Dark Angels players want to roll out the Lion’s Blade Task Force over the generic Gladius Task Force detachment that’s the current meta choice for armies of basically all Space Marine chapters? Time will tell.
In the meantime, you can check which armies are getting new rules next with our guide to upcoming Warhammer 40k codex release dates – and stay up to date with daily news by following Wargamer on Google News.
Source: Wargamer
