Warhammer 40,000’s signature faction are the various types of Space Marine, a rich blend of medieval knight, male power fantasy, super-soldier and colonial dread that comes in many flavours. Arguably, the crunchiest of these are the Dark Angels, the secretive and heavily storied chapter that draws upon Dark Ages fantasy stories such as the Arthurian cycle. The Deathwing are their greatest heroes, super heavily armoured warriors in incredibly thick Terminator armour, carrying weapons that only a super-human could wield.
It’s very silly. It’s very Warhammer.
STARBURST was sent a copy of the Warhammer 40K Deathwing Assault set for review, and it’s a delightful, pretty thing. This is a thing of joy, from the lavishly illustrated box to the well-considered contents.
The set contains the new Dark Angels Codex (the rules and setting book for the faction), as well as cards, transfers and a whole load of miniatures for you to assemble and paint yourself. 16 Dark Angels, plus three ‘teleport homers’ and three ‘watchers’, little monk-like munchkin creatures that add to the ‘dark ages, but in space’ feel of the set.
The Codex is of the usual solid quality we expect from Games Workshop. Crammed full of lore, story ideas and painting guides, the idea here is that you open it up to be inspired to create and paint your ideal Dark Angels army. They are also ‘quest’ style campaigns for you to run that are very heavy on the lore.
Certainly, with the models from the Deathwing set, you could generate a fun army list. Interesting rules include ‘Vowed Target’, basically a bonus to dice rolls for telegraphing your plans to your opponent, and plenty of options to play a super-tough, relentless style game. If going fast and hitting hard is your preferred option, there are some ‘deep strike’ teleportation options and rules covering the Ravenwing (that’s Knights on combat motorbikes. Fun. But silly.)
The models themselves are exceptionally well done. We get a mix of Knights and Terminator models, both of which are chunky space warriors. Not only are they highly detailed, but the set also comes with lots of options for hobbyists to play with. These models have a very specific theme, they’re still easy (and fun) to convert if that’s your thing. There are also plenty of good weapons options, which is nice.
The box pairs nicely with the Leviathan set. There is plenty of crossover with the Space Marine models and lots of modelling options.
Overall, the set is very pleasing. Not only are the models nice, they’re not too challenging to assemble. The rule book is crammed with illustrations, ideas and, more importantly, fun ways to play Warhammer 40,000. You’ll find these interesting to paint and, when done, rewarding to play with. We have high hopes that future releases will follow in this vein.
