This is the new item in the Deathwing toolbox. The initial impression was that it's shiny and game-winning. However it's not as cut-and-dry a first turn victory method as was originally thought. Let's have a closer look under the hood:.

What is it
Deathwing Assault (DWA) allows 50% of your DW terminator squads held in reserve (rounding up) to enter play via deepstrike at the start of your first turn without rolling for entry. The other squads remaining in reserve and must role for entry as per normal reserve rules. (See Codex Dark Angels page 28 for further deatails).

Pros
Gets multiple squads into play quickly and cheaply - no transports required – and if used correctly can overwhelm a flank/unit and wrest the initiative away from your opponent. In fact it can be a game winner. It is particularly useful when you consider that most termy guns are only 24" range so it enables you to get them deployed and firing from your turn one.

There is also the useful bonus of being able to attach ANY terminator-armoured ICs to your termy squad(s) before they deepstrike rather than rolling for their reserve entry separately. Additionally, it is a useful way around escalation as you are guaranteed at least one unit plus attached IC(s) entering play at the earliest opportunity wherever you want them.

Cons
To work well it needs Ravenwing bike squadron(s) equipped with teleport homers in order to gain precise placement otherwise you are subjected to scatter. To work fantastically well you need to get first turn to avoid the bikes getting shot up, but this isn't an issue with the DWA itself more its application. And beware, DWA-ing in a small number of squads can be a bit of a suicide mission.

Tactical considerations
So before you start leadping in with your termy squads and hoping for a first turn victory there are a few things to carefully consider:

Ravenwing Bikes
Bikes with their teleport homers are pretty much mandatory here and that leads to all sorts of complications with list-building and what to do with them once they have homered-in the termies, as, frankly small bike squads just don't last long and are easy VPs for the enemy. That is even if you have managed to get the bikes into an advantageous position to start with - sometimes this isn't as easy as it sounds - especially on an open terrain-free battlefield where the bikes are left in full view after their Scout move, it really is a case of getting first turn or come to terms with losing them. That said it DWA does cause a certain degree of panic amongst some players and the bike squads are useful on-the-spot backup for the incoming termies.

Bikes have other immediate uses too. You can use them as LOS blockers or to tie up key enemy units in assault on the first turn. Plus, multiple bike and attack bike units scouting forwards will keep your opponent guessing as to the exact placement of your incoming units and that has got to be a good thing.

Of course if you don't use bikes then you can opt to put trust in the scatter dice and see how you fare, but for me that removes a layer of control that is critical to terminator squad placement and success. It is the difference of being in the firing line of just one enemy unit or many which could be disastrous, or being able to assault a unit next turn or not. In a 'pure' Deathwing army scatter is unavoidable as bikes aren't be used and we don't have teleport homers as a wargear option. Thus multiwing is the route to DWA Nirvana, or so we are lead to believe.

How many squads to use
Consideration must be made to how many squads to bring in. As you can bring in 50% of your reserve squads rounding up, the following options are open to you:

1 squad in reserve - 1 squad available to DWA (100%)
2 squads in reserve - 1 squad availalble to DWA (50%)
3 squads in reserve - 2 squads avaialble to DWA (66%)
4 squads in reserve - 2 squads avaialble to DWA (50%)
5 squads in reserve - 3 squads avaialble to DWA (60%)
6 squads in reserve - 3 squads avaialble to DWA (50%)
7 squads in reserve - 4 squads avaialble to DWA (57.1%)
etc etc.

You can see the sweet points are odd-numbered squads held in reserve with 1, 3 and 5 squads being suited to the scale of most 1500-1850 sized armies. With these squad totals you leave less of your units hanging around before entering play.

Where to deploy
Well tactical/terrain/mission and enemy army type all have an influence here. But my rule of thumb is wherever possible bring in two squads (at least) in one place to maximise your own firepower whilst splitting that of your opponent. Flanks or behind enemy lines (ideal for taking out armour) are key placement points – the idea is always to overwhelm a portion of the enemy for a massive local superiority.

Another option is to bring them in behind cover to ambush enemy units, or deploy directly onto objectives. Once on objectives termy squads can be quite hard to shift and will act as advance guard for any follow up units to monoplise the advantage.

It should not be underestimated the psychological impact of bringing your squads in directly upon an objective reall early on in a game. Termy units aren't by any means impervious to taking casualties, but they are great 'holders' whilst other units in your army follow up the advantage or give covering fire from afar.

Obviously it is critical to limit LOS to the incoming unit(s) as much as possible to avoid a piecemeal turkey-shoot. Remember that when entering play via deepstrike you are very particularly vulnerable to template weapons – something else to think about before deciding where to come in. Also, your small tightly bunched squad is a juicy target to assault.

So to keep your relatively small units from being completely shot-up on arrival the aim is to frustrate your opponent and keep your termies out of LOS from template/AP2/rapid firing weapons by using your bikes as a screen, just plop your termies down behind or beside the bike squadron. Or, bring your termies down behind cover and create firelanes that enemy units must advance through to move forward.

Arming your squads
This last point is interesting when determining how to arm the DWA squad(s). If you are bringing in just one squad then go shooty-biased with an acannon, traditional PW/SB sarge and one pair of lightning claws. Why? - well simply because firepower is its own defence and as the unit deepstriking in can't move or assault on arrival an assault-biased squad is largely useless until it gets into cc next turn but with any luck, altough it does put assaulters off coming at you. In balance though offensive firepower is always preferable.

If you are bringing in more than one squad then you can consider a more assault-biased loadout with more claws than guns in a support squad if you want. Heavy flamers are good in some situations and they ignore cover and auto hit; cyclones- well the best that can be said there is that you can mount claws on them, but really with their range these weapons need to be on the table from the off if you use them at all.

I should mention that you can upgrade one squad to include an Apothecary and Chapter Banner if Belial is in your army and these are always recommended – especially the former.

Neat tricks
There aren't many as DWA is itself a bit of a trick, but there are several ways to extend the usefulness of Deathwing Assault to get the most out f it:

Use your bikes as decoys to mask your real DWA landing zone.

ALWAYS attach a terminator-armoured IC to an Deathwing-Assaulting termy squad if you have one available. This could mean using Belial himself (the most obvious candidate) but a termy Librarian would suit the bill too using his Hellfire template on landing and his Force Barrier to soak up any wounds; the Chaplain is best assaulting from a Land Raider. Or, think more daringly and take advantage of the loss of the "No Allies" rule – attach a Grey Knight Grand Master. OK I'm getting ahead of myself here as that's the subject for another tactica.

Back-up units
Dreadnoughts in drop pods were great for backing up teleporting termy squads but with the price of both pods and Dreads it is not looking so attractive. So any ranged heavy support platform/weapon is ideal for softening up potential landing zones as indeed are Land Speeders. I find forward moving Land Raiders can be a great distraction to the enemy who will not know which way to point his guns. The thing is not to let your squads flounder on their own or you will lose them to no avail.

Remember close-support backup is ALWAYS on the way (hopefully on your second turn) by your remaining reserve squads entering play, use the same tactical care and consideration for placement of these units as you did for the first wave. And also use the support of any surviving bikes you have on the table.

Conclusion
As ever it takes a steady nerve to deploy termies via deepstrike and Deathwing Assault is no different in that respect. All it really means is that you get more units entering play quicker, and, in some case with a degree of accuracy. It is not always about getting close to the enemy but simply getting into a decent position before he can react. It IS about gaining the intiative and forcing to make your opponent react – sometimes rashly – rather than conentrating on his own game plan. Nothing focuses the mind better than 10 termies and 2 ICs turning up unexpectedly on turn 1. It is not the panacea for an all-conquering Deathwing/multiwing army but if used correctly and carefully can provide the basis upon which to build a victory.

DWA is very much a strength-in-depth strategy with the 'spear tip' of incoming termy squads dependent upon back up units to drill home the advantage. It is also very Dark Angels fluffy.

Well that's it for now, it's quite short as there isn't heaps to say, so the best of luck.
Hope you enjoyed the MT.

Isiah