What I Like Today - Azrael

Welcome to another WILT article for today, I've not had much chance over the last couple of days to get one done because I've been too busy. However, last night I was having a skim of the Dark Angels codex to check up some special rules I was unsure of and read Azrael's rules properly. I'd been using him in my last few lists in prep for a tournament soon but didn't realise he had a few of the extra rules.

Deathwing / Ravenwing
The original reason I chose to take Azrael was as a quick way of getting Deathwing and Ravenwing as scoring units, without me having to take both Belial and Sammael, as I don't own Sammael.

Azrael lets me take both for just over 200pts in one handy package.

The Protector
This is a suit of Artificer armour which also bestows a 6+ feel no pain, which means Azrael can happily tank wounds and deal with AP3 weaponry. The only downside is that it doesnt give the "Grand Master of the Dark Angels" the Eternal Warrior special rule.

Lion Helm
The Lion Helm is a cracking bit of wargear that gives Azrael's unit a 4+ Invulnerable save. Decent enough with a Tactical Marine squad, even better when you combine it with a big Imperial Guard platoon squad.

Warlord Traits
Azrael can choose any of the traits from the Dark Angels Warlord table, which is pretty handy too, as you can then tailor to what you need from the game. Personally I like the Feel No Pain within range of objective (although only on works on Dark Angels units) and also the modifiers to reserve rolls is quite handy too, so I can try and get Flyers on when I need to.

Rites of Battle
Something I didn't realise when I picked him is that he has the Rites of Battle special rule, meaning all units from the DA Codex use his leadership while he's on the table. Which means I don't have to be spending points on Veteran Sergeants in my units in order to get the LD boost on the unit.

Inner Circle
Azrael also has the Inner Circle special rule which makes him Fearless and also gives him benefits against Chaos Space Marine units.

Sword of Silence
Being a S6 AP3 weapon means that Azrael doesn't have to drop to 1 attack and use Krak Grenades against vehicles, which is pretty decent.

So that's it for now, so far I'm really enjoying my games using him, another WILT installment some time soon!

SB

(Song - "If You Love These People" from Man of Steel Soundtrack)

W.I.L.T - Ravenwing Bikers

Morning and welcome to another WILT installment! Yesterday in the post I got another 3 Ravenwing Bikers to get my Dark Angels w/ Guard allies list up to 1750 looking towards a tournament at the end of July.

It got me a bit excited to write about Ravenwing bikes and why I like them... So here's a few reasons.

1. Scoring
If I choose to take Azrael, it allows me not only some benefits to his unit, but also lets me take my precious Deathwing AND Ravenwing as scoring. It's great having a group of scoring bike units that are fast to get to places.

2. Fast
As I said above, Ravenwing are fast elements in my mostly static Dark Angels and Guard army. They can also Scout move allowing them to get further up the field meaning in a standard deployment, they can be 24" across the board in Turn 1.

It also means later on in the game, thanks to turbo boost and whatnot, they can be reaching objectives quite a distance away.

3. Hit and Run
Something I always forget about, but can be massively helpful is the fact they all have Hit and Run special rule. Meaning they can bang into a combat, do some damage, stick in during the enemy turn and then leave for a re-charge in my own turn.

4. Homing Beacon
Great in tandem with my Deathwing elements, especially combined with a Scout move and Turbo boost and hoping they survive until Turn 2. Or even reliable deep strike on Turn 1 Deathwing assault.

5. Firepower
A group of twin-linked rapid firing bolters can do a fairly decent amount of damage to small units, combine that with the 2 plasma guns I run and we're putting out a decent few shots for the unit. On top of that, adding the Banner that gives Salvo 2/4 nearby works on Ravenwing bikes as they're Relentless.

6. "Free" Landspeeder
The last thing I like about Ravenwing bikes is the ability to attach a Land Speeder if the squad is a full 6. This frees up my Fast Attack slots for other things or even more Bikes. This is handy since I've got a new found love for the Land Speeder.

So that's all for now about Ravenwing Bikes, maybe next week I'll delve into Azrael and Land Speeder Typhoons.

SB
(Song: Do I Wanna Know - The Arctic Monkeys)

W.I.L.T - Colossus Siege Mortar

Good morning folks and welcome to another edition of "What I Like Today" (or W.I.L.T for short).

Today I'm going to talk about the Colossus Siege Mortar in the Imperial Guard codex. This has been a favourite unit of mine since 5th edition with the Guard codex, but only since getting to grips with 6th edition rules have I brought it back out onto the tabletop.

My logic for this has been 2 fold. 1 is to deal with infantry blobs in their own deployment zone and also to take the Colossus over something like the Griffon or Basilisk is the S6, AP3, Ignores Cover.

What this means is that I can 2+ out Tau Firewarriors, instakilling any HQs that it lands on and fail their L.O.Sir test. It can also then deal with backfield power armoured units, like Tactical marines in cover or pesky Devastator equivalents like Long Fangs or Dark Reapers.

In the games I've used it, it's always done pretty well. I'm not sure if it's made it's points back in every game, but it's killed a few HQs and troop units they're hiding in.

It's very reliant on getting a hit since otherwise it'll be scattering full 2D6", but it's got a decent chance of landing a hit, or even scattering onto other nearby units if you play something like Guard platoon blobs or Tau huddled together to benefit from support fire.

And that's time up. What do you guys think of the Colossus Siege Mortar? Both playing using it, and playing against it.

SB
(Song: Mr Brightside by The Killers)