Dark Angels or Ultramarines?

5793 Views 15 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Valerian, Feb 3, 2006

Dark_Wizard

Discussion Starter · Feb 2, 2006

Hello there! If you're reading this, you're probably wishing to help and/or get mad at me for some insane reason.

As the title says, I'm trying to decide between two Chapters. I have not played Warhammer 40,000...ever. I understand all the rules (Bought the rulebook) but now I'm divided. At first I was going to get Tau, with their snazzy suits and great guns, but have since realized that they...die. Quite easily. As do the Kroot.

Then I thought to myself, "Hey! Those Eldar look pretty awesome! Sniper rifles, anti-grav tanks, psykers...What else?" I quickly saw that they didn't fair much better than the Tau. I mean, super-advanced technology is great and all, but when you get down to it, into all the screaming, all the men, all the blood...They're disgustingly bad at close combat.

If anyone is wondering, no, I do not go through armies and then forget them. I watch other people's games and sometimes borrow my friends' armies.

Finally I settled on the Space Marines. Defenders of the Imperium (Sp?), masters of war, superhumans bound to their Chapter. But then there arises the question of which Chapter? And so now we move along to the actual point of my post.

Ultramarines or Dark Angels?

I'm not sure of which is better stats-wise, but rather I'm basing it off the coolness of their color schemes. I like Ultramarine Blue, but Dark Angel Green is cool too. So I have decided to make my choice over the better stats.

Any hints, help, and advice would be appreciated.

Any flaming, laughing, and being an inconsiderate jerk is not.

:|

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

CRANNEY

· #2 · Feb 2, 2006

Hi there buddy its ok am new here too :|

any way back on topic id go with the dark angles as they can carry loads of plasma wepons which kick butt good style pluse they can have the very cool raven wing (bikes and speeder's) or the deathwing (very hard termys).

the ultermarnes are cool and all but dont have anything that speacial about them apart from the nid hunters which rock but only if you are nid players quite a bit.

but still the choice is yours buddy am shure you will get loads of good advice soon buddy

see ya

OT5

· #3 · Feb 2, 2006

Well I will outline some of the main difference between the chapters.

The Dark Angles tend to be more of a shooty army than anything else. They have some interesting options such as death wing terminators and raven wing, as mentioned above. I am sure some of the other members of the forms can give you some more specifics on the Dark Angles (I am an ultramarine player myself).

As for the Ultramarine they are basically the standard codex chapter. They can very easily be customized to be a shooting, assaulting or a balanced mix (my personal preference). It is in this flexibility that codex chapters have their strength. The Ultramarines have some cool special characters as well as tyranid hunters and honor guard.

As for which chapter is better, it really depends more on you personal preference and playing style.

I myself picked the Ultramarines because I thought the blue armor looked cool :yes: .
If you have any other questions about Ultramarines let me know.

Hope that helps...:shifty:

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ForgedInTheFurnaceOfWar

· #4 · Feb 2, 2006

If you want to go termintator heavy, go ultra marines, this seems backwards, but stuborn is extreamily annoying on termintors.

IF your going with no termintors, take DAs, since you get a free ability for all your troops.

Manu_Forti

· #5 · Feb 2, 2006

in my opinion DA's look better. i know space marines dont wear camoflague bcoz they supposedly arent afraid of anything and fight head on etc etc.. but even still, i think BRIGHT BLUE looks stupid, cartoony, childish and unrealistic.. even if they arent going to wear camo then atleast dark green still looks a little more realistic..

Dark angels dont have Veteran marine squads or scout bikes, but their ravenwing speeders and bikes are better than standard chapter ones. and as forged said the troops get a free ability, im sure hes talking about 'intractable' which means they never fall back form being shot at, only assulted.
but really in terms of game-play there isnt a HUGE difference between any chapters. its mostly about how they look and the background story behind them (their history). so just go with what YOU like the look of

good luck aand welcome to 40k

BobaHat

· #6 · Feb 2, 2006

Go with whichever you think looks best. I know this sounds like a lame answer but I have always done this with all my armies for the simple reason that it's more fun to learn to master the skills of playing with an army you think looks cool and has cool background history than settling with one you don't really feel very strongly about simply because it is an easy army to play. (damn that was a long sentence... hehe...)

My personal choice would be Ultramarines, but that's because I'm an Imperium nut and the Dark Angels have a Heretic secret they never will be completely rid of.

DA_recruit, funnily enough I disagree completely with your statement of bright colours being 'unrealistic'. The Warhammer 40,000 universe is a dark gothic place and Space Marine Chapters are more like brotherhoods of temple knights than a standard military force and they take great pride in their colours.
One of the reasons I'm an Imperial Fists player... :tongue:

CommieNinja

· #7 · Feb 3, 2006

Untrue sir, the dark angels SHALL reclaim themselves (or at least one can hope)!! Anyway, my choice would be Dark Angels only for the fact that the branches within the Dark Angels are able nicely accustomed (sp?) to their purpose ie Deathwing being able to field terminators as troop choices and land raiders as transports or Ravenwing being able to take bikes as troops and attack bikes as heavies. Stack the Deathwing Termies with stubborn and Ravenwing "jinking" their vehicles and its a pretty solid space marine army.

High Priest Avion

· #8 · Feb 3, 2006

I find Dark Angels way more unique than UM, simply because UM is described as the 'focus' and main army of the SM.
While DA are.......well......stubborn!

With DA you can focus in with alot of special units such as ravenwing command squads, a deathwing army, and robed units!

Another obvious but true point point, if you like blue miniatures get UM, if you like Green minis then DA are the ones for you!

HPA

ClarionMarine

· #9 · Feb 3, 2006

Ultramarines are generic, overemphasized, and boring. Dark Angels or your own chapter is the way to go. I happen to like the idea that the DA have this horrible secret that they hide, its kinda cool.

Zephyr_the_AzureWind

· #10 · Feb 3, 2006

It really does come down to your playing style....but over colors just go with what you like. BOth colors portray something different.... DA green as gothic and intimidating (my personal choice since my own Ravenclaw marines are the same color)

while Ultramarines Blue has a more upbeat Shining light of the Emperor feel to it.

STyle and theme of your marines.......
If u see your troops (in your mind...not tabletop gaming wise)
*walking forward slowly into enemy fire without a hint of emotion, not faltering from casualties to bring death to xenos and heretics.....pick Dark Angels, unsocial, distant, and secretive, fearless
*Charging forward screaming battlecrys and litanies of faith.....pick ultramarines, valiant, honorable, and courageous

gaming wise the only difference between DA and vanilla marines are fearless, plasma cannons x2,
and the specialization in the RAvenwing and Deathwing companies.....if u see yourself using tons of landspeeders and/or Terminations go DA.

IF you see yourself using a more varied force with an emphasis on versatality play Ultramarines (or just play your Dark angel marines as a Vanilla chapter...perfectly legal)

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zealous_894

· #11 · Feb 3, 2006 (Edited)

Ultramarines are what I chose...i'm not exactly sure why but now i have a 3400 pt army with all of their special characters and the entire army is painted as well

BobaHat

· #12 · Feb 3, 2006

zealous_894 said:
Ultramarines are what I chose...i'm not exactly sure why but now i have a 3400 pt army with all of there

If you're going to post a reply, please post a reply that has a point.

praxis

· #13 · Feb 3, 2006

Sorry, but the cloaks and aprons dark angels wear (especially characters) just put me right off them. I like the background and the shooty side of them, but they look like freemasons. Thats ok if your in a church or on parade, but on a battlefield ? Some of them look like they're about to trip up. And now GW have started to put the things on Ultramarines ! Not in my army.

Would you seriously put cloth over power armour before going into battle ? its only going to get trashed and ruined. My mum would kill me if i did that, and i'm 42. Still, each to his own.

Chaosbrynn

· #14 · Feb 3, 2006

Dark_Wizard said:
So I have decided to make my choice over the better stats.

By stats, I guess you meen special abilities as the stat lines of all SM are the same except for special abilities.

The answer is quite simple actually, DA have more special abilities then ultras. Plain and simple. If everything else is equal in your mind, and you want the chapter that will give you more bonuses, DA is the way to go. The silly thing is, any chapter can be played codex style at any time. In other words, any chapter can be played as ultras at any time. So go with DA and if you feel like it, use standard codex rules when it comes up. This way you technically have access to both, though wouldnt get the honor guard and tyrannid hunters.

So, again, the answer to the question you asked is Dark Angels.

Bob Dole

· #15 · Feb 3, 2006

Chaosbrynn said:
The silly thing is, any chapter can be played codex style at any time. In other words, any chapter can be played as ultras at any time. So go with DA and if you feel like it, use standard codex rules when it comes up. This way you technically have access to both, though wouldnt get the honor guard and tyrannid hunters.

Now, personally, I don't care if someone plays Blood Angels using Dark Angels models as long as everything is WYSWYIG (and I can cut people slack on that too.) I've never seen anything in the rules that would prevent this, so playing Dark Angel models as regular codex marines is completely reasonable in my book. However, the way some people get up in arms about this sort of thing makes me wonder if there -is- a rule that people have based this opinion on. Saying you can play DAs as codex marines, but you can't use the special units attached to that list, seems... awkward.

Is there some sort of rule on this? That's published somewhere I can see?

Valerian

· #16 · Feb 3, 2006

A Bit of Advice

BobaHat said:
Go with whichever you think looks best. I know this sounds like a lame answer but I have always done this with all my armies for the simple reason that it's more fun to learn to master the skills of playing with an army you think looks cool and has cool background history than settling with one you don't really feel very strongly about simply because it is an easy army to play. (damn that was a long sentence... hehe...)

Good advice from BobaHat, that I would like to briefly add to. In my own humble opinion, I think a player will be more satisfied in the long term by picking an Army, and associated style of play, that you identify with. Foremost, should be whether you visualize yourself being one-and-the-same with the Commander of your army. I strongly recommend that you do not make your choice based on which force you think will give you the most advantage (i.e. which you can squeeze the most out of when min-maxing). The guys that do this typically aren't all that fun to play against either.

The best games I've had are against guys that enjoy their army. They appreciate the (usually) well-documented histories that have been written about the exploits of their forces (the fluff). They buy units from the army list based on what they like, and how they think the army ought to be organized, and not solely on what will "guarantee" a win.

Admittedly, this advice won't get you very far in a tournament, so if winning those is your goal, please don't listen to me. I however prefer a friendly game among buddies, and is where I get the most enjoyment out of the hobby.

Best of luck,
Valerian

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