They are stealing our...individuality!

Hey guys and gals, id like toi wish you all a happy new year! Havent had any posts here due to vacations and work. But now that everything is back in place, things should get back to rolling and rocking soon enough!



What id like to talk about today is the Dark Angel codex as a whole, now and then.

Everyone knows the DA codex was released during the 4th edition, back when things were so much simpler than they are now. With the rumors of the 6th Ed running rampant through the inter web , its hard not to think that thr days of the 4th edition were much "simpler".

Anyhow , il try to not get carried away and stick to the topic at hand. Now this post is not supposed to osund offensive or anything like that, so i apologize in advance if it does. This post is simply here to state a fact and convey the opinion that GW has been going wrong about that specific policy.

So lets talk Angels!

When the angels came out, they were exquisitely unique in the fact that they were the only marines, that could field and army of all out Terminators (ala Deathwing) as well as a full army of Bikes (aka Ravenwing). Were talking about scoring/troops here gentlemen. So dont get smug and tell me that marines could jst get all 3 slots of elites with terminators and be the same.

This gave the Dark Angels somnething unique, jst like the Blood Angels get Furious Charge and Feel No Pain almost everywhere, or like Space Wolves get Counter Attack, or even Grey Knights Getting Psykers (im focusing ont he recent GK codex here, not the daemon hunter one)all around or even Black Templats having prefered enemy!

Each Codex has their unique thing, where as most got it as a very nice special rule, we simply got it in form of FoC modification.

For a while there we were pricy but performed well over all against the other Codices, never top notch, as you saw the SW when they came out, or the GK when they did. But we were unique and special. And at the end of the day its what mattered the most to DA players.

Then came the 5th edition and it changed the scenery. That didnt affect us too a game changing degree, youd still see Dark Angels going on about their business ! However then came the 5th Ed space marine codex and in it, there was a special Character that was called Korsarro Khan, and he made bikes troops. You could even take a normal Hq and put him on a bike and ud get bikes as troops.

Dont get me wrong here, this is a great thing for the SM players, and they deserve it, but where as it gave something new and interesting to one set of players it took away from another.

Would the blood angel players like it if another codex got the Red Fury special rule? or perhaps DoA? I dont think so.

So now the Dark Angel players had a competing bike army out there, that could do everything they could (this is before the FAQ that you can turbo boost in the scout phase) and do it for cheaper and with more models!

But clearly GW thought that we were still to unique and decided to give 2 other codices the ability to make Terminators troops/scoring: ther GK and the SW. Granted the SW pay alot more for theor wolf guard terminators then we do, but they also get much better wargear.

So what did that leave the Dark Angel codex with? Nothing unique, thats what. There is nothing in the DA codex that cant be approximated by another. Our devastators cost as much as a land raider if given las cannons. Our Ven Dreads cost less but still have 12 FA. We really have lost the ability to field something unique.

Oh wait i just remembered that we had 3 wound Interegator Chaplains, but the Blood Angels got a Reclusiarch with the same stats!

So yeah, GW is either planning to release a DA codex soon to repair the "damage" or they simply dont care about the "DA player base" as much as they do about profits. Which again is understandable but not encouraged.

Closing thoughts: Dark Angel players are happy for their cousin space marines, they just wish that when the time comes for them to shine again (propably in the 6th ed) they will trully be unique again.