It's Jeremy Vetock.
Who the fuck is Jeremy Vetock? *Google search*...
Ok... It looks like most of his resume comes from Warhammer Fantasy. He's done Skaven, Ogre Kingdoms, and Orcs & Goblins. He's also been involved with the overall design for all three games systems, but this is his first 40k Codex.
And here it is. Welcome to 6th edition, Dark Angels.
Obviously I was far more excited for the new Chaos release. But I am generally excited whenever a new 40k Codex comes out. But most of all, I am really excited that this isn't a Matt Ward book. I think that may be a good sign of things to come in 40k, because I am hoping that the first few books in 6th will set a solid baseline for future publications. So, what kind of stuff is coming with it?
And there we have it, the new look of the Dark Angels. I think there are some great desgins in this release. I especially love the theme they are bringing to the Deathwing Terminators and the Ravenwing Bikes. The Knights look absolutely amazing, and just perfectly majestic like a super elite Dark Angel should be.
That new Flyer is pretty cool, but I am scared by the amount of firepower that it has. With 6th edition already having a Flyer metagame going on, the last thing we need is another Flyer with a stupid amount of firepower. I am guessing it will be as fragile as a Stormtalon though... Very awesome design on that, they hit the mark just right.
That speeder looks like a piece of shit. What's with all the shrines and everything? It really looks like a bad kitbash of a couple Land Speeders, an Exorcist, and a few pieces of Halo Mega Blocks. Fuck is that thing stupid looking...
But back to the author. I am really interested to see what this book does to the game. This is a pivitol point in the game where we see what 6th will look like. Chaos gave us a glimpse that you can make a Codex with competitive options, but keep it on a baseline that still requires the player to use his grey matter. I hope this Dark Angels Codex stands level with Chaos, and that we don't see too much creep.
To conclude, some rules derived from the White Dwarf:
Courtesy of Lars (Denmark) via Faiet212:
Dark Talon: Rift cannnon (no rules sited), hurricane bolters and stasis bomb (one use only, dropped on an enemy for - 3 WS and - 3 I)
Niphilim fighter: heavy bolters, blacksword missiles (no rules sited, but the battle report later in the issue mentions that the fighter is supposed to be good at taking on enemy flyers, so I guess the missiles are for that), avenger mega bolter/lascannon.
Deathwing Command: multiple options incl. apothecary and standard bearer. A "Champion" wielding the "massive halberd of Caliban" is mentioned and there's a picture (no rules sited).
Deathwing Knights: Terminators with WS5, Storm Shields, power mauls and special rules, incl. Hammer of Wrath and "Smite" which makes them strike at S10 AP2 for one round. BTW both DW terminators and the knights can be fielded in units of 10 now! Oh and the DW can take plasma cannon and they have USR "split fire"!!!!
Land Speeder Vengeance: AC/HB, plasma storm battery (mentioned in the battle report to be able to fire either 3 small blasts or 1 large blast, I'm guessing plasma stats).
Darkshroud: HB/AC, Shrouded USR and conferes Stealth to allies within 12", and it has a rule that gives units +1 to charge distance (as far as I can read - the picture is quite small and hard to read, so perhaps it's plus 1 to something else).
RW Black Knights: plasma talons (instead of bolters, no rules sited, and not being called twin-linked plasma gun/pistols leads me to believe the rules could be a bit different), corvus hammer (no rules sited, but I guess they are power mauls), they also have the option of a RW grenade launcher.
Sammael: pretty much the same as before, as far as I can tell, though with a 4+ inv.save (which is confered to the land speeder if he chooses that instead) - can't remember if that's new.
Dreadnaught: has option for dual twin-autocannons, venerable dreadnaught has "DW vehicle" rule.
DW knights and black knights have a rule called "Inner Circle" and in the battlereport it is mentioned as giving them some form of re-roll in close combat.
New rule calles DW Vehicle
DW assault rule is mentioned in the battle report as ensuring a DS in turns 1 or 2 with no dice roll needed, decided by the DA player before the game begins.
There are more special rules mentioned but no rules sited.
DW, DW command and knights are in the same box.
RW command and RW black knights are in the same box.
