Detachment Focus: Lion’s Blade Task Force

Merry Grotmas! Games Workshop is releasing a new series of detachments – one per army, every day until Christmas. In this series we’re looking at these new detachments, covering what’s in them, how they play, and how they’ll fit into the broader meta and your games.

Dark Angels have slowly emerged as the best Space Marine faction over the last few months, with Deathwing Knights proving to be one of the game’s most durable and troublesome units. But for all the power Dark Angels bring to the table, their Detachments have been largely ignored in favor of those in Codex: Space Marines. For Dark Angels fans this has been a bit of a downer, especially for those players looking for a reason to bring Ravenwing units to the battlefield.

We’d like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a preview copy of this Detachment for review purposes.

Detachment Overview

The Lion’s Blade Task Force allows players to combine Deathwing and Ravenwing units in a single detachment, giving players bonuses for using both. What this looks like on the table is typically Ravenwing units ranging ahead and charging into the enemy while Deathwing units follow behind and get bonuses for going after units marked by the Ravenwing. It’s an interesting detachment and while the Ravenwing are its weakest link unit-wise, there are a lot of interesting effects here to work with.

The Video Version

If you’re interested in watching a video version of this Detachment Focus, we’ve got you covered:

Detachment Rule: In the Lion’s Claws

This detachment rule is in two parts – one for each of RAVENWING and DEATHWING units. Enemies within engagement range of RAVENWING units must take a desperate escape test every time they fall back (at a -1 if they are also battle-shocked), while DEATHWING units get +2 to charge any unit that is within engagement range of one or more RAVENWING units.

TheChirurgeon: This is an interesting pair of abilities, and both point to you using Ravenwing units to charge. That’s a tall order, because Ravenwing units are generally not the units you want to be taking in the army. Three-model units of Ravenwing Knights to range around the table or maybe a command squad or two could be the play here. The big thing making them viable is going to be the Knights of Iron Stratagem, which lets them play more defensively and stage charges through walls.

Curie: I feel like the secret sauce here is Invader ATVs and Storm Speeders – both are starting to see a fair bit of play and they gain the RAVENWING keyword in Dark Angels armies. The ATVs are annoyingly resilient for their points (60 pts for T5 8W) with decent firepower while the Storm Speeders bring some much-needed shooting buffs to the army.

Gunum: Well, well, well. It looks like my most hated unit, the Black Knights, finally has a place to call home. Having some great stratagems and a detachment rule that actually matters, our bikes are back baby! There will be a little bit of a tik-tak-toe as we try and combo charge units with our Deathwing and Ravenwing, which I think can be achieved leaning more into an MSU kind of situation. 5-mans of Deathwing rushing into help units of Outriders, seems like the way I want to go. Spoiler: The Ravenwing datasheets still kinda suck. Except Sammy. He rules. 

Enhancements

The four enhancements in this Detachment are absolute fire. They’re all just absolutely great effects, and the only downside is that you can’t take all four. You’re almost always going to spring for the Fulgus Magna on a Deathwing Knights unit, and it’s worth looking at the others on top of that. 

• Calibanite Armaments – Add 1 to the damage characteristic of the bearer’s melee weapons. This is always a great ability and going from 2 to 3 damage is a huge improvement. It’s a great boost for the Terminator Captain’s Relic Fist and a fine boost on the Ravenwing Champion’s power weapon.
• Lord of the Hunt (RAVENWING only) – The bearer’s unit can shoot & charge after making a fall back move, and can also re-roll desperate escape tests. The real value here is disengaging and re-engaging, which is helpful for those times you need to set up another Deathwing unit for a shorter charge.
  Curie: Can only be taken by the Ravenwing Command Squad (Ravenwing Champion specifically) or the Chaplain on Bike (who sucks), but definitely a very powerful enhancement to keep bouncing around.
• Stalwart Champion (CAPTAIN, CHAPLAIN, or LIEUTENANT only) – While the bearer’s unit is not battle-shocked add +1 OC to models in the bearer’s unit. This is super useful for holding objectives and preventing steals with your Deathwing Knights, and when you pair this with a Terminator Ancient you’re suddenly pulling the Grey Knights Trick of having OC 3 Terminator badasses. You could also put this on a bike Chaplain to get OC 3 bikes.
• Fulgus Magna (DEATHWING ONLY) – Gives their unit the ability to go back into Strategic Reserves once per battle at the end of their opponent’s turn if they aren’t within Engagement Range of an enemy. An absolute windmill-slam-into-the-list option, and a true build-around – being able to drop back into reserves and Deep Strike again is huge, letting you get to wherever you need to be.

Again, the Fulgus Magna is a must-take, the kind of Enhancement you build around since it gives you an incredible amount of movement for a unit of Deathwing Knights, and you can combo this with the Detachment rule, dropping them out of Deep Strike to pull a 7” charge against a unit that’s already within Engagement Range of a Ravenwing unit. Stalwart Champion is also great for your midboard control Deathwing Knights and getting them to OC 3, and your Calibanite Armaments is always going to be a good way to spend your last 15 points.

Gunum: Let’s be honest here, we all know being able to redeploy units anywhere we need is a huge deal. Look, other armies that have this something like the Fulgus Magna, like Necrons or Thousand Sons. This will allow that major hammer unit you have to hit a flank you may need shored up, then go on the offense. I have been drawn to looking at Calibanite Armaments for the +1 damage. This has been an enhancement type we’ve seen in other Dark Angel detachments, and it’s still as good here. Units like a Gravis Captain who admittedly does very little with this detachment or our Ravenwing Command Squad would love to have this gem. 

Curie: Fulgus Magna is definitely an auto-take – though my mind is spiralling into some weirder options like the Bladeguard Ancient because it’d be funny to have teleporting Bladeguard Veterans… 

Stratagems

The Stratagems on offer here are very good; good enough that you’ll absolutely want to include Azrael to get the extra CP to use them. The big surprise here is Inescapable Wrath, and that one’s gonna cause some problems for opponents.

• Overpowering Exaction (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – In the Command phase or the start of the fight phase, force a battle shock on a unit that is within engagement range of one of your units, at a -1 if it is in engagement range with a DEATHWING or RAVENWING unit. Limited to one user per battle round. The timing on this is what makes it interesting – used at the start of the Fight phase it’s an OK way to try and prevent interrupts but that ability to use it in your Command phase is pretty great, since you can fire this off as a way to try and steal an objective from your opponent when they’re contesting it, or potentially set yourself up for an action on an objective you otherwise wouldn’t be able to control. This is super versatile, if a bit unreliable.
  Curie: this also works in the opponent’s Command phase, which is a great way to mess with attempts to fall back from your units, or to deny an opponent scoring.
• Armour of Contempt (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Needs no explanation – every marine detachment has this. It’s always good to have.
• Strength in Unity (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in the Fight phase just after an enemy unit has selected its targets. Pick one of your units targeted by that enemy unit. If that enemy unit is within engagement range of one or more RAVENWING units, then it gets -1 to its hit rolls when attacking your unit. If it is within engagement range of one or more DEATHWING units, it gets -1 to its wound rolls. This cannot be combined with Armour of Contempt. This is really weird in how it’s worded – it’s a debuff on the enemy unit, not a buff on yours, meaning that you’re basically picking a unit from your army that was the target of some of those attacks to not be eligible for Armour of Contempt. So if you had a Ravenwing and a Deathwing unit in combat, you could pick the unit taking fewer hits, then use Armour of Contempt on the other one. Either way, this is very good, and even if you only have one unit in combat to get half the benefit, you can still pop this and use AoC on another unit.
  Curie: Great way to keep the squishy Ravenwing unit safe from the slap back after you’ve used them to secure a charge with Deathwing.
• Knights of Iron (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Your movement phase or your charge phase; RAVENWING units can move through terrain features when making a Normal, Advance, or Charge move. This is incredibly good for shoring up one of the big weaknesses of Ravenguard units, letting them stage behind cover for a charge through a wall, protecting them from tough shooting until it’s time to strike. Also note that, based on the timing, you can roll your Advance or Charge roll before opting to use this.
• Illuminating Fire (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in your Shooting phase after a RAVENWING unit has selected its targets. Choose an enemy unit within 12” that has been selected as the target of one or more attacks. Until the end of the phase, DEATHWING units get +1 to wound that target. This is a neat idea but the challenge is that Deathwing shooting isn’t all that great. Storm Bolters aren’t particularly compelling but using this for a Land Raider Redeemer, Repulsor Executioner, or Dreadnought can be pretty solid and you’ll get it for multiple units in the turn. 
• Inescapable Wrath (Strategic Ploy, 2 CP) – It’s the original Heroic Intervention – at the end of the charge phase you can then charge an enemy unit within 6” of one of your DEATHWING INFANTRY or DEATHWING WALKER units (You don’t get the Charge bonus, i.e. Fights First). Note that this does not require the enemy to have charged anything, so it can be a nasty surprise. At 2CP, it’s fairly pricey but can still be particularly impactful for when an opponent wants to steal an objective from a Deathwing unit without engaging in fisticuffs. The good news is that you can drop the cost of this to 1 CP with a Captain. This is a dynamite stratagem that makes your objective-holding units an absolute nightmare.
  Curie: No one liked playing around old heroic intervention and this stratagem highlights exactly why. No more cute plays to snipe an objective away from a deathwing unit because they’ll just charge you, regardless of if you charged them. Very powerful, though 2CP does make it a hefty commitment to use.

This is just a fantastic set of Stratagems, giving you the kind of utility that can actually compete with the Gladius Task Force. The core of this army is still going to be your Deathwing, but now you’re supporting those with Ravenwing instead of Eradicator bricks and Assault Intercessors. 

Playing This Detachment

If you’re playing this Detachment, go ahead and write down three units of five Deathwing Knights on your army list, plus Azrael. Then start working from there. Your biggest challenge here is going to be getting the mix of Ravenwing units correct – they’re not generally great from a datasheet standpoint, but they’re going to be the key to getting the most out of your units in this Detachment. 

To that end, it’s worth remembering the units that gain the DEATHWING keyword when you take them in Dark Angels: In addition to Terminators, your Bladeguard, Sternguard, and Vanguard units become Deathwing, as do Land Raiders, Repulsors, and Dreadnoughts. As we’ve already mentioned, Land Raider Redeemers and Dreadnoughts can benefit tremendously from abilities like Strength in Unity and Illuminating Fire, and they’ve got good synergy with the units you’re already taking, since Redeemers can transport your Deathwing Knights. 

When it comes to which Ravenwing units you want to take, one of the big keys to this Detachment is the Knights of Iron Stratagem. When you don’t have to keep your models out of ruins that might otherwise stop them from making it up the table, you can get a lot more out of your bikes, safely staging them behind walls before they plow through on the charge. This makes Ravenwing Knights and Command Squads much more playable, though it’s also worth experimenting with the Ravenwing flyers, as they’re capable of zipping 20” up the board and getting into combat in a single turn. Though they’re likely too expensive to be made to work, along with the speeders. Your goal here should be to have 3-4 Ravenwing units available to power your best unit rules and give you a little redundancy, then fill the rest out with Deathwing.

Strengths

• Makes Deathwing Knights even better
• Strong Enhancements make your army more versatile
• Ability to move Ravenwing through walls when moving or charging

Weaknesses

• Ravenwing datasheets just aren’t that good, and often requires them to be in combat to get the full effects
• Deathwing has fairly anemic AP in melee, and this detachment doesn’t provide anything to help with that
• No ability to charge after Advancing (the notable exception being Sammael) or making a Fall Back move

A Sample List

Curie: I know we said lists start with three units of Deathwing Knights but how about we start with Azrael and two units of Deathwing Knights instead? I want more Ravenwing in this list!

The list - click to expand

Azrael leads his 6 Inner Circle Companions, which became quite annoying to kill for their points with native -1 to hit all the time, access to -1 to be wounded in combat, and a 4+ invulnerable save. The Chaplain leads one unit of terminators that can bounce off the table once per game. After that we have a shooting core of 2 Ballistus Dreadnoughts, which with the Storm Speeder Thunderstrike and access to Illuminating Fire can be +1 to wound against two separate targets. Two solo Invader ATVs give us some mobile scoring as well as additional utility for triggering the various detachment buffs for the Deathwing units. Finally we have a big brick of Ravenwing Black Knights lead by a Ravenwing Command Squad equipped with Lord of the Hunt, giving us a really mobile unit that can just cause problems for the enemy.

Final Thoughts

While it’s not entirely clear whether this Detachment is going to be better than the Gladius Task Force, there’s absolutely enough power here to make it worth testing. Deathwing units – Azrael and Knights in particular – were already plenty playable in space marine armies. The real question is whether this is enough to make Ravenwing playable. On that note we think there’s definitely enough juice here to make a go of it, and if you’re a Dark Angels player looking for a way to run the army with a Dark Angels-exclusive Detachment, this is the best option available.  

Curie: One thing I’ll also note – the lore drops in this detachment are very fun to read – kudos to whoever at GW put those together.

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