The New Dark Angels Descend Upon Games Workshop
January 4, 2013 by dracs
Since their appearance in the Dark Vengeance box set last year many have been waiting eagerly for the appearance of the new Dark Angels army. Well they are finally here, but do they hold up to our expectations?
I'm sorry to say I am not that impressed. Put down those pitch forks!
Most of the more, er, exciting releases focus upon the mobile Ravenwing company.
As befits the Ravenwing, they are receiving two new flyer options; the Nephilim Jet Fighter
and the Ravenwing Dark Talon.
Yeah, it's just a normal flyer which flew into a cathedral and got stuck half way.
The bike units give us a little hope. The Command Squad in particular has a few nice pieces of detail.
I especially like the way in which the bikes have been modified to match the riders, such as the Apothecary's bke having that rack of medicines or gene seeds or whatever they are.
The Command Squad can also be built to be the new elite Ravenwing unit, the Black Knights.
These are nice enough, somewhat unexciting, but they do allow you to make endless Monty Python jokes whenever they suffer a wound.
Then we come to the two new Land Speeders. Hang your collective heads in shame Games Workshop.
The Land Speeder Vengeance.
Land Speeder Darkshroud.
What is with these! There are things sticking out everywhere, they're cluttered and look a real mess. I mean the Land Speeder was never sleek, but it should at least look like it could a) get off the ground and b) stay the right way up!
Fortunately, the Deathwing has, for the most part, managed to avoid getting messed up.
As with the Ravenwing Bikers, the Deathwing Terminator Command Squad has the option to be built as either the command squad or the new elite unit of Deathwing Knights.
You know what, I rather like these Knights. They're imposing with a nice degree of detail and that iconic look which we all know and love about a Dark Angels force. You see Games Workshop, you don't have to make something bristle with guns to make a good miniature.
Then we get to the Grand Master of the Deathwing, Belial himself.
Er no. Just no. This is not what one might expect from Belial. The model is cluttered, static and the pose makes him look knock kneed. It's like he's trying to command the Deathwing while dying for the toilet.
The Interrogator-Chaplain Asmodai has come off a bit better.
In an army which has become characterised by ornate armour and decorations, Asmodai stands out as having relatively little of these trappings. I really like this way of separating him from the rest of the force as it adds to his austere design, backed up by the design of his helmet.
However, the pose is bland and unimaginative, while the skull shoulder pad is just plain goofy. It instantly takes away from the sinister severity of the model. The pose of both Asmodai and Belial really get to me as in recent years we have become used to really exciting character designs and positions from Games Workshop. These are just a huge step backwards.
All in all I am rather disappointed by these Dark Angel releases. Anyone who knows my writing style will know I don't really like being overly critical (except where giant shoulder pads are concerned), but these are on par with the Beastmen army releases a few years ago.
Games Workshop you guys have created something which people the world over love and has introduced many to tabletop gaming, but you have too show you deserve this level of devotion and these releases just don't.
Do you think I am being too critical? Will you be placing your advance order for these new minis?
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“What is with these! There are things sticking out everywhere, they’re cluttered and look a real mess. I mean the Land Speeder was never sleek, but it should at least look like it could a) get off the ground and b) stay the right way up!” Well if I had to guess, I’d say stability is why they’ve got those extra turbines strapped on. You know, I didn’t notice Belial looking knock-knee’d until you mentioned it but now I can’t *not* see it. Thanks for that. 😛 Asmodai’s shoulder pad doesn’t bug me much, but that might just be from… Read more »
These new models had me thinking…
Assassins Creed Themed Space Marines. They have the hoods, they have eagle iconography everywhere and with a bit of work on the actual fabric itself you could easily make some awesome looking ‘Assassins’.
BoW Ben
I don’t usually post in forums but after seeing the new flyers I felt the urge to sign up. They knock me sick! I’ve been toying with the idea of playing another game system and GW have made that decision for me.
I gave up on 6th ed. completely, switched to Infinity, and have never looked back with any regrets. Give them a look. If you’re into more vehicles, then take a look at Dropzone Commander. Almost all vehicles, but some really amazing models as well.
Yeah. Been having a good look at Infinity and going to pick up a copy of the the core rules next week.
do not want.
Looks like stuff released for he-man and other action figure lines from the 80s
Hmm, some of it I ike (Asmodai, the cool angel chapel), some I like less (the extra propulsion things for the speeder), all in all I think its pretty good, the art really fits in with the dark angel fluff, and if you like the dark angels then you should like them. I can understand why its not for everyone (I dont want to buy them), but I like the idea of making each chapter really unique. I don’t understand why people are reacting so violently, they look fine to me, I am sure some people will really enjoy painting… Read more »
I think a lot of people are disappointed with some models in particular, mostly the Land Speeders and Belial, and I’m right there with them. That said, I also think people are focusing on the bad and glossing over the good in the release and with the help of the internet it turns into a band wagon of overblown criticism. Sure the Land Speeders look ugly and lazily designed but there’s also some really great models there too. The Deathwing Knights look amazing. The Ravenwing bikes look amazing. The flyers look very good (the stonework bit is optional when building… Read more »
Looks like the usual Space Marine guff to me, with added ‘Dark Angels’ bits and graffiti all over the vehicles/armour, isn’t that what it’s all about these days anyway? Different Space marine chapters utilizing the same stuff as every other group/chapter but with their own custom bits dangling off of everything? Not knocking it, it is what it is as far as I’m concerned. I don’t play Space Marines as they don’t particularly appeal to me but aside from Belial (I’ve heard the ‘toilet’ complaint on every other forum I visit too) I think everything else looks like your typical… Read more »
Some I like, some not so much. The Flyer (without all the cathedral-y stuff) could be good as a ‘counts as’ Storm talon as I always thought it looked like a hovering box. The wings make is seem more believable to me. The command squad bikers could be good as I was planning on using ravenwing kits to make them anyway, the extras should make them stand out from my regular bikers a bit more. The assault terminators look great! I’ve been searching for a way to make them look less dull and ordinary and those guys manage that brilliantly.… Read more »
personally i think the dark angels models look really cool im definnetlly going to get chaplin asmodai and invest in a bike squadron of 6 and also 2 lanspeeders maybe a lansppeder vengeance but £40 what the hell!!!!!!! i can see them being like white scars on steads in some cases
also got dark vengeance so only going to need to get 3 more bikers and might also going to reaplace assult cannon with plasma cannon on the terminatiour with special weapon
The Nephilim jetfighter, the model that the Stormtalon should have been. GW has fixed it.
Utter disappointment!
Thank god I gave up on every other army than my Tau in 40K.
Not a single model worth a second look, Asmodai was such an iconic model and look at him now…
Now I can really say that I made a right decision to leave 40K for other games, like Infinity, WormaHordes, Hell Dorado, at least my wallet is thankful and models don’t look miserable like this ones do.
Well there’s good and there’s bad. With all the cathedral rubble im not quite vertain but since most of it is just extra bits, one could aswell leave them off and use them for terrain or something. From what i saw on the sprues, the Ravenwing/Deathwing boxes might be quite good to build the minis and have enough leftover stuff to spice up the old “vanilla” bikes/termis to look a bit more Dark Angely. And there’s a lot of bits in that box i do actually like a lot if you dont overdo them on a single model. tbh i… Read more »
My money won’t be leaving my wallet for this release. The flyer and the speeder just look so mix/mashed. Like someone opened up a bunch of CAD files and just mixed and matched pieces together from existing kits.
I guess the one saving grace would be the terminators especially the knight build. They look pretty cool.
I’m looking forward to some Non-Imperial releases. Give me some Tau, Eldar, or Squats. Something Xenos. Only exception would be a Sisters of Battle army.
These made a decision for me, I’m giving up 40K.
Hey mate, this is one release, every game has its good and bad models. Rule of thumb, don’t buy the ugly models until you find the ones that you like. You didn’t need to flip out about this.
It’s been a long time coming. It seems a weird thing, but when I look at any model from Corvus Belli, Privateer Press, Wyrd or so many other manufacturers I want their entire range sitting made and painted in a display case or on the table, which isn’t the case with GW. More and more I grow to dislike what GW produce from their books, to the games and miniatures. It’s hard for me as they were the first game I picked up and what I went back to after a period out of it.
This wasn’t meant as a flip out anger thing, this was a calm decision that started when I saw leaked images of these and then looked back at the last few releases and realised that the more I saw the more I wanted out.
The knights look great but I’m going to try and hold on to my cash until I’ve read the new codex though.
Belial is very disappointing. I’d like to have seen a more action packed depiction. I think I will stick with my old Belial.
Most of it is not so Bad I will stick with the belial I made. And Yeah been pealing away and focusing more on Heavy gear love the Combined arms and it has Mechs.
Looks fitting for the 40k universe and the Dark Angels chapter. Not sure what all the drama is about. Haters gonna hate.
I think that the main issue for most players is that as we grow older you hope that the hobby you have chosen to devote your time and effort to will grow and mature with you. These models appear to be strongly designed to appeal to an even younger target audience than normal. The designs are poorly executed and as ravingmad8 mentioned it looks like the sculpting elements were CAD designs. This process makes it quite an easy project to complete when you simply copy/paste pre-drafted components all over a model frame. This is probably why the landspeeder ended up… Read more »
The Nephilim interests me, being an actual space marine fighter, but I am not sure if it interesting enough to buy.
What is the name of the Space Marine in the Darkshroud sitting at the back knocking out the rap music on his decks !
I’ve looked on the GW site, but there is no reference to him 🙁
Why have all fo GW’s non-LOTR releases over the past 6 months been mostly failures? The Chaos Marines, Warriors of Chaos / Daemons have been mostly clusterf*cks, the majority being just bad miniatures for their respective armies. This is no different.
Why are Space Marines becoming PARODIES of themselves ? Who the hell is being allowed to make these fail-decisions at GW?
I think it’s down to a hiring policy in GW, as they seem to employ “yes men” so you have a group of people sitting around all loving the same things and saying how awesome it is, when it’s really crap.
Sorry @poosh but when a game focuses on half the armies all looking much the same (bell bottom armored warrior’s with the same weapons but with stick and past details). You end up boring even hard core fans. If I was GW I would focus on pushing things forward and stop making 2 in 1 kits as most make the models look daft.
I disagree entirely. I think we can all imagine in our minds Dark Angels that look distinct without looking comedic and over the top i.e something that “flew into a cathedral and got stuck half way” as Sam puts it. I think their miniatures are constantly pushing into cartoonish rather than realistic. I know they’re heroic scale but that doesn’t mean they have to constantly look over the top. I think their Black Templars and Blood Angels looked perfectly distinctive without looking absurd. I think the 2 in 1 kits are excellent ideas, there is nothing bad about the “2… Read more »
Also these models look kind of bad as they are using art from the GW codex’s as a basis, LOTR and the Hobbit uses different art based on the films drawn by John Howe and Alan Lee.
That might be your opinion but I love the new chaos daemons mini and think they where mostly accepted positively though seems like older guys or ones that have started playing privateer press or some other games are just on pure GW hatred, not gonna defend them but I still find GW’s models to often look quite better then competition (though some that seen from privateer press is looking good, not going to deny that).. that all being said i couldn’t care less about space marines, mainly checking what others think (and seems to be most people here just starting… Read more »
I like all of them, just not keen on Belial may make up own of just cut that model up
Cut a £15 finecast model up!!?!?
MADNESS!
He’s got balls of steel.
I’ve cut up brother captain stern aswell – I chopped off the right arm and head so I could turn him into Mordrak as I loved the body with the robes
My bro cut up the 25th anniversary model lol
JESUS!
From the games I’ve played dunno how the skimmers will stack up anything with armour 10 without the skyfire will be rubble after the 1st turn.
I like every last model in the release set. I have a keen eye for stuff too and Belial has just had knee replacement so read your fluff and give him a break! (no pun).