How do you play Dark Angels competitive?

[Akaiyou]

So I built up a Grey Knights army for Draigowing wanted a 2,000 pts list. And i was going to use my spare space marine terminators to flesh out the list with converted GK termies.
However found a good last minute deal and nagged another box of GK termies and 2 dreadknights, so I decided I still wanted to do something with the spare terminators i have
And suddenly "Deathwing" came to mind.

I want to build a competitive Deathwing army list from the Dark Angels codex. But since I know very little about dark angels except that they have terminators as troops, I thought i'd ask you guys to share your knowledge and enlighten a potential new member to the traitor hunting club.

My question is simple...How do you play Dark Angels competitive? What are the key units to use and why?
also would love to know is Deathwing worth it?
what are good example deathwing army list builds between 1,000 to 2,000 pts?

I have 18 spare terminators with options for 2 chainfist, 2 assault cannons, 2 heavy flamers the rest are a bunch of power fist and storm bolter arms.
I also have 20 spare bolter marines and 1 spare terminator chaplain, all of which I could toss into a DA dedicated army if they would fit well.

Have at it fellas...

[helvexis]

well most deathwing armies ive seen are 1-2 min size squads of bikes for teleport homers and 5+ squads of hammer stormshield terminators with each squad also having a cyclone missile launcher as thats legal for dark angels ... and a couple of dreads/vendreads.

though i would personally give 1-2 terminators for each squad either lightning claws or one assault cannon/Hflamer

well if you consider fielding a quarter of a company of terminators for 1500 points worth it then hell yes ... it looks AWESOME especially as half of the squads can deepstrike on turn one after your bikes have scouted.

competitive well its a bit of a one trick pony and you wont do so well against fast armies.

also as belial is the ONLY space marine captain without an iron halo ... kinda need to give him the hammer and shield as well you dont lose much though so its fine

i personally play a ravenwing army but a good mate has a deathwing ... we do 2's occasionally and the fluffyness of it is awesome

[Maelstorm]

I run 1850 Deathwing with:

Belial - TH/SS
Libby
5x TH/SS Termies, Cyclone Missile Launcher (Troops), Feel No Pain
5x TH/SS Termies, Cyclone Missile Launcher (Troops)
5x TH/SS Termies, Cyclone Missile Launcher (Troops)
5x Standard Termies, Lightning Claws, Chain Fist, Cyclone Missile Launcher (Troops)
5x Standard Termies, Lightning Claws, Chain Fist, Cyclone Missile Launcher (Troops)
5x Standard Termies, Lightning Claws, Chain Fist, Cyclone Missile Launcher (Troops)
Land Speeder Typhoon (Missile Launchers), Multi-Melta
Land Speeder Typhoon (Missile Launchers), Multi-Melta

16 missiles per turn. 6 scoring troops. Libby joins a back-line squad to abuse the table-wide hood.
Place 3 units of Terminators and the land speeders on the table, reserve 3 units for Deathwing assault - 2 units will come in on turn 1 in your opponents backfield. Use the missiles to pound vehicles - you don't have to kill the vehicle, just park them long enough to multi-assault them with any Terminator.

[AbusePuppy]

Maelstrom's list is more or less what I've seen, albeit with a few small things I'm not sure I would like. Despite what helvexis says I don't think I would try to mix in Ravenwing (i.e. bike) components to the army, as you don't really want to try for a Deep Strike gimmick- the option is there, and it's not bad, but I wouldn't bother relying on it.

I would take a Cyclone Missile Launcher in every squad, period; there's really no reason not to. An Apothecary in one squad is also a no-brainer; whether or not you go for the Chapter Banner is a lot more iffy. Belial's setup likewise has pros and cons each way, though I think the TH/SS setup might be your best bet.

As for your other Terminator squads, there's some discussion as to what to go with, but I prefer to maintain several Storm Bolters in each squad for extra anti-horde firepower and at least one TH/SS in each squad so you have a safety net there. Something like

-Sarge w/Power Sword, Storm Bolter
-Cyclone Missile, Power Fist, Storm Bolter
-Chainfist, Storm Bolter
-2x Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield

That gives you three SBs and a Cyclone for shooting, one guy who strikes at initiative (although to be honest I kinda think maybe a second would be good, dunno), two 3++ guys to soak nasty wounds and a Chainfist in case anyone gets any ideas with a Dreadnought.

Land Speeders can make themselves an obvious target when the rest of your army is all 2+ saves, so I'm not sure about them- they do add firepower, but I wonder if there might be other ways to get it, like Predators (AC/HB) or whatnot. Whether or not to go for a Librarian is also tough; the table-wide hood isn't as impressive when you are only Leadership 9, since you need to take the overpriced named character to get Ld10 and your psychic powers are mostly underwhelming.