Ravenwing Squadrons and Heraldry
Marking essentials
White wing badge: wearer-left. White squad number: wearer-right. Black armour.
Ravenwing: cavalry, squadrons and aircraft
The Ravenwing is the Dark Angels’ 2nd Company, specializing in mounted pursuit, reconnaissance and rapid attacks. Its bikes, speeders and aircraft can trap quarry and place teleport homers for the Deathwing. Mobility alone does not make another unit Ravenwing. Official faction pack, p. 5
What belongs in the company?
Traditional elements include bike and attack-bike riders, Land Speeders, Darkshrouds, Land Speeder Vengeances, Black Knights and command specialists, plus Nephilim Jetfighters and Dark Talons. Ravenwing overview
GW’s February 2024 Ravenwing army includes Outriders and Invader ATVs alongside specialist bikes, speeders and aircraft. This confirms their Ravenwing use; it does not establish one mandatory replacement formula for every older squadron.
Scouts, Phobos troops and jump infantry should retain their documented company identities. Ely distinguishes modern cavalry from these other mobile roles. His examples of exceptional dismounted Ravenwing missions explain unusual deployments, rather than making regular Ravenwing infantry a standard establishment. Ely’s Ravenwing article
Organization and command
Traditional mixed squadrons
A traditional attack squadron comprises ten Marines across eight vehicles:
Bikes
6 vehicles · 6 Marines
Attack bike
1 vehicle · 2 Marines
Land Speeder
1 vehicle · 2 Marines
Total
8 vehicles · 10 Marines
The Ravenwing article cites First Founding, p. 46, for this arrangement. The chapter disposition lists six attack squadrons and four support squadrons, plus additional specialist elements.
The supplied image’s 36 bikes, six attack bikes and six speeders fit six traditional attack squadrons arithmetically. Its exact Black Knight, Darkshroud and Vengeance quantities remain unverified image-specific counts.
Rank is separate from specialization
Sammael commands the company. Talonmasters are company officers who direct its fire and movement. Huntmasters lead Black Knight units. Black Knights are the company’s initiated veteran elite; membership does not itself make each Knight a Lieutenant. Ancients, Champions and Apothecaries hold distinct specialist appointments. Black Knights; official Talonmaster description, pp. 11–12.
Markings and unresolved numbering
The established arrangement is white Ravenwing badge on the wearer’s left shoulder, white squad number on the right, over black armour. A gold vertical bar distinguishes Inner Circle/Black Knight heraldry in the 7th-edition examples. It is not a general gold shoulder-rim rank ladder. Ravenwing colours and cited codex pages
Unresolved · squad numbering
Ely gives 1–5 attack / 6–10 support, conflicting with the six/four disposition. These are different numbering schemes, so a collection can follow one consistently for its chosen era. His Primaris squadron mixes are proposals. Shoulder guide.
Personal heraldry and squad identity are separate from military rank. Our adopted additions and unselected Ravenwing-specific variants are tracked on our decisions and history page.
Aircraft and pilots
Nephilim and Dark Talon pilots are Ravenwing; the 6th-edition codex, pp. 20 and 50, identifies the 2nd and 3rd squadrons as traditional pilot suppliers. Ely’s wider assignment of other aircraft to green companies and Techmarine pilots is an interpretation, rather than a universal rule. An aircraft’s markings, pilot origin and owning company can describe different affiliations. Ely’s aircraft discussion.
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