As highlighted in our review of the Dark Angels Codex Supplement, the points inside the book felt out of sync with the book itself. The points were listed in the back of the book, but an update was expected in the same vein as the last 4 codex releases. Now that the “proper” release of the codex supplement is coming this Saturday, Games Workshop has issued an updated Munitorum Field Manual (v1.7) which updates some of the units found inside, adding costs for the faction’s new unit and updating unit sizes which had changed. These points replace the point costs found in the Dark Angels Codex Supplement itself.
So how is the First Legion looking going forward?
The Changes
There’s a mix of up and down here – which is surprising to us. Aircraft see 10 point hikes each, Asmodai and Ezekiel both go up 5 points, then there’s a slew of (fairly aggressive) decreases on Mounted Ravenwing units. Oh and Deathwing Knights come down to a level that most players can stomach.
The full list of changes from the Codex Supplement to the MFM as we see them is:
- Asmodai – up 5 points to 70
- Deathwing Knights – down 55 points to 235 for 5
- Deathwing Terminator Squad – down 15 points to 190 for 5
- Ezekiel – up 5 points to 75
- Land Speeder Vengeance – down 10 points to 140
- Lion El’Jonson – down 15 points to 350
- Nephilim Jetfighter – up 10 points to 195
- Ravenwing Black Knights – down 25 points to 90 for 3
- Ravenwing Command Squad – down 55 points to 130
- Ravenwing Dark Talon – up 10 points to 210
- Ravenwing Darkshroud – down 5 points to 115
- Sammael – down 5 points to 130
They’ve added in the Inner Circle Companions points as well, though these are unchanged from the Codex Supplement points: 105 points for three models.
The Winners
Ravenwing! A unit of 6 Ravenwing Black Knights led by a Ravenwing Command Squad is now 310 points, down from 415 points. This makes the 18 Black Knight build very enticing for this speed enthusiast, and also opens up some interesting MSU mission play options when combined with the January Dataslate’s reduction on Outriders.
I will grudgingly admit that the Deathwing also win out here – the Deathwing Knights are now at a much more reasonable 235 points for 5, down from 290 in the supplement. Similarly the Deathwing Terminator Squad drops to 190 points for 5. Still quite pricey, but might see some play with their Deathwing ability allowing them to ignore hit modifiers and get +1 to hit the Oath of Moment target.
The Losers
The Lion (Or is it kitten?) – We highlighted in our review of the supplement that his updated rules stung quite a bit; he lost a considerable amount of both durability (Emperor’s Shield lost the -1 to wound bonus) and offensive output (Fealty’s sweep profile dropped from 2 to 1 damage) while remaining quite pricey. This is still the case, as at 350 points he is the same cost as Roboute Guilliman, while offering nowhere near the value to the army in terms of buffs or offensive output as the Primarch of the 13th Legion does.
Asmodai & Ezekiel – There was no reason for these two characters’ points to go up. They have never been featured in lists that performed well, and I don’t think that will change going forwards at their updated costs.
Inner Circle Companions – This unit held a lot of promise in the initial supplement review, with the caveat that their points needed to go down considerably to be worth considering. At 105 points for 3 models, they remain a very expensive unit that doesn’t bring much to the army. They’re interesting when paired with Azrael or Ezekiel, but they are still probably overpriced by 15-25 points.
The Impact
Our initial opinion was that Codex Supplement: Dark Angels wouldn’t make much of a splash on the meta, and this will probably remain true. Expect some very silly Ravenwing lists to crop up though, as the aforementioned reductions on Ravenwing Black Knights and Ravenwing Command Squads could make for some amusing Stormlance or Company of Hunters builds.
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