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Hey gang! Now it's MY turn to try out a Deathwatch list:


EDITED LIST

Primary Detatchment
Inquisition

Warlord - Inquisitor Coteaz

Elites - Henchmen Warband
4x Acolytes w/Storm Bolters
1x Pskyer
Razorback w/ Psybolt // TL Hvy Bolters

Elites - Henchmen Warband
4x Acolytes w/Storm Bolters
1x Pskyer
Razorback w/ Psybolt // TL Hvy Bolters

Elites - Henchmen Warband
4x Acolytes w/Storm Bolters
1x Pskyer
Razorback w/ Psybolt // TL Hvy Bolters



Secondary Detachment
Watch Company[/b

Watch Captain
Combi-Melta // Chainsword

[b]Aquila Kill Team

Terminator x1
Thunder Hammer // Storm Shield

Veterans x5
Deathwatch Frag Cannon x4 // Storm Shield x4 // Combi-Melta x1

Veteran Squad

Veterans x5
Combi-Meltas x5
Drop Pod

Veteran Squad

Veterans x5
Deathwatch Shotgunsx5
Drop Pod


Veteran Squad

Veterans x5
Stalker Pattern Bolter


Secondary Detachment
Officio Assassinorium Execution Force

Callidus Assassin

Vindicare Assassin

Culexus Assassin

Eversor Assassin


So this list is an attempt at keeping a low model count while trying to take on common threats at tournaments and my LGS.


Coteaz and the Callidus Assassin combine abilities to not only let me reroll Seize the Initiative, but also force my opponent to reroll theirs. Other than that, Coteaz is a relatively point-efficient and deadly way to get two additional Warp Charges on the field. With a Culexus, a naked Librarian, and Coteaz I have a pretty good chance of deny at least one crucial psychic power. Finally, the Callidus inflicts a -3 modifier to my opponent's first Reserve Roll.

When it comes to facing Alpha Strike lists, of which there are lots of successful ones that incorporate heavy drop troops, like Skyhammer; 4 Infiltrated Assassins, a Dreadnought, and two squads of Veterans are likely to survive as they'll have to take up positions on literally every corner of the board. While lacking Anti-Air or anything with Skyfire (hopefully would come across a Skyfire Nexus in Maelstrom), I do have access to Coteaz's "I've Been Expecting You" special rule. He will be attached to one of the Stalker Veteran squads, a force that will likely be able to remove a few wounds from non-vehicle models that pop up next to them. The two Stalker Veteran Squads will be supported by my only other model: the Ven Dread Nihilus.

One particular formation I'm quite excited to run is the Furor Kill Team. Whether that team gets a seal of approval from the forum or not, I'm still going to make it haha. It's going to require quite a bit of converting but I'm going to have everybody except the Veteran Sergeant (DW Shotgun) to hold their Storm Shields (the new ones) in a tight wedge formation. Lore-wise, what they represent is something that could open a small hole in a full Tyranid Hive Fleet zerg-rush, breaking it like a river around a mighty rock of Frag Cannon and Storm Shield. They have a half decent shot of surviving more than one round of shooting, in my mind. In practice, enough AP 2 spam from things like Ravenwing and White Scar Grav weapons will obviously kill them. However, I'd say they're charge proof as that wall of Overwatch will hurt.

The Aquila Kill Team is what I'm going to be building out of my Death Masque box. Like everything else in the Watch Company, they'll be rerolling against units with Psykers, Independent Characters, and Warlords. The Blackshield will be getting double attacks against Monstrous Creatures, Vehicles, and Independent Characters. At close range, this unit could easily wipe an exposed unit in the shooting phase with 4 template attacks, which are equally useful for deterring counter-charges. It's inefficient, but COOL.

So let me know what you think, I'm very interested in making low model-count armies, and ever since I saw an army comprised of a half dozen librarians and a squad of Devastator Centurions, I believe anything is possible.

I don't really have any useful comment, except that I hope one day to grow my 500 points DW army into something like this, and that I really hope you post pictures of the Veterans with the Frag Cannon/Storm Shield combo once you manage to model them.

BlueBiscuit wrote:
I don't really have any useful comment, except that I hope one day to grow my 500 points DW army into something like this, and that I really hope you post pictures of the Veterans with the Frag Cannon/Storm Shield combo once you manage to model them.

Why thank you BlueBiscuit! It was a poorly thought out high-dea, and once I came to, realized that it's to cool to NOT do!! I could absolutely make it better by giving that 5th man another Storm Shield but I actually kinda like the idea of one guy holding the back and calling out shots and taking out anything stupid enough to try to break past the shield wall.

I'm not quite sold on my Aquila Kill Team, it's definitely how I'm going to model my Death Masque squad, but I'm afraid that it doesn't scale-up to 1850 points very well. Especially considering that they're nearly 1/6th of the army and wont be able to charge until Turn 3-6.

Again, im just going to interject some personal opinion on this one, this may be proven horribly horribly wrong.

But imo, i think your are going to get creamed by most horde armies.

The deathwatch suffer the same issue my RW DW suffer, which is low model count, you only have 28 models on the field, not counting the dreadnought. Granted those 28 models are super elite, but they wont be able to stand up to the sheer volume of fire you will be taking. Considering most of the models in the formation are only T4, they are going to get wounded by a lot of stuff, and with the amount of AP on the field now, armor 3 is not going to be as resistant as it once was.

The assassination force is a gambit. You are only getting 12 wounds with 4++ unless in cover, but they are very good and stabby. Assassination force is a high risk high reward kinda thing. Its either going to pay off or be an incredible waste.

The big issue, is the DW, IMO so take that as you want, are not meant to be a stand alone codex for games this large. They fill in a great role to round out an army or bump a 1250 army up to 1850, but on their own, they are just such a low model count, its going to be hard to keep them alive, or maintain board control.

So again, this list might be ok, but just be aware, small model count armies arnt going to stand very well to say 1850 of ork that are throwing literal buckets of dice at you.

 Backspacehacker wrote:
Again, im just going to interject some personal opinion on this one, this may be proven horribly horribly wrong.

But imo, i think your are going to get creamed by most horde armies.

The deathwatch suffer the same issue my RW DW suffer, which is low model count, you only have 28 models on the field, not counting the dreadnought. Granted those 28 models are super elite, but they wont be able to stand up to the sheer volume of fire you will be taking. Considering most of the models in the formation are only T4, they are going to get wounded by a lot of stuff, and with the amount of AP on the field now, armor 3 is not going to be as resistant as it once was.

The assassination force is a gambit. You are only getting 12 wounds with 4++ unless in cover, but they are very good and stabby. Assassination force is a high risk high reward kinda thing. Its either going to pay off or be an incredible waste.

The big issue, is the DW, IMO so take that as you want, are not meant to be a stand alone codex for games this large. They fill in a great role to round out an army or bump a 1250 army up to 1850, but on their own, they are just such a low model count, its going to be hard to keep them alive, or maintain board control.

So again, this list might be ok, but just be aware, small model count armies arnt going to stand very well to say 1850 of ork that are throwing literal buckets of dice at you.

Hey thanks for the reply!

I totally get where you're coming from concerning horde armies. When it comes to those, I have few options:

Eversor Assassin is a 135pt lawnmower with a grenade attached to it. It, alongside the Culexus and Callidus (which both only get shot by snapshots on Turn 1) are going to be able to threaten all the models starting on the table, and need to be dealt with.

The Furor Kill Team will be able to create a very large 24' bubble of death for footslogging infantry, MCs, and units embarked on Open-Topped transports. All of those things are quite popular with horde armies, so I'm confident in my 1st Turn being devastating. As the game moves on however, you're probably right: it's gonna get tough.

sizzlebutt666 wrote:

 Backspacehacker wrote:
Again, im just going to interject some personal opinion on this one, this may be proven horribly horribly wrong.

But imo, i think your are going to get creamed by most horde armies.

The deathwatch suffer the same issue my RW DW suffer, which is low model count, you only have 28 models on the field, not counting the dreadnought. Granted those 28 models are super elite, but they wont be able to stand up to the sheer volume of fire you will be taking. Considering most of the models in the formation are only T4, they are going to get wounded by a lot of stuff, and with the amount of AP on the field now, armor 3 is not going to be as resistant as it once was.

The assassination force is a gambit. You are only getting 12 wounds with 4++ unless in cover, but they are very good and stabby. Assassination force is a high risk high reward kinda thing. Its either going to pay off or be an incredible waste.

The big issue, is the DW, IMO so take that as you want, are not meant to be a stand alone codex for games this large. They fill in a great role to round out an army or bump a 1250 army up to 1850, but on their own, they are just such a low model count, its going to be hard to keep them alive, or maintain board control.

So again, this list might be ok, but just be aware, small model count armies arnt going to stand very well to say 1850 of ork that are throwing literal buckets of dice at you.

Hey thanks for the reply!

I totally get where you're coming from concerning horde armies. When it comes to those, I have few options:

Eversor Assassin is a 135pt lawnmower with a grenade attached to it. It, alongside the Culexus and Callidus (which both only get shot by snapshots on Turn 1) are going to be able to threaten all the models starting on the table, and need to be dealt with.

The Furor Kill Team will be able to create a very large 24' bubble of death for footslogging infantry, MCs, and units embarked on Open-Topped transports. All of those things are quite popular with horde armies, so I'm confident in my 1st Turn being devastating. As the game moves on however, you're probably right: it's gonna get tough.

Your alpha strike will be strong that is for sure.

But thats also assuming you are going first, if your oponant goes first, you wont get the alpha strike with your assassin, and she will end up getting shot at and charged before she can really unleash her potential.

Your big issue is going to be either surviving or board control. Since its such a low model count, you would either be spread very thin, and end up dying, or clump up and be able to do a lot of damage and be hard to kill, but no board control

 Backspacehacker wrote:

sizzlebutt666 wrote:

 Backspacehacker wrote:
Again, im just going to interject some personal opinion on this one, this may be proven horribly horribly wrong.

But imo, i think your are going to get creamed by most horde armies.

The deathwatch suffer the same issue my RW DW suffer, which is low model count, you only have 28 models on the field, not counting the dreadnought. Granted those 28 models are super elite, but they wont be able to stand up to the sheer volume of fire you will be taking. Considering most of the models in the formation are only T4, they are going to get wounded by a lot of stuff, and with the amount of AP on the field now, armor 3 is not going to be as resistant as it once was.

The assassination force is a gambit. You are only getting 12 wounds with 4++ unless in cover, but they are very good and stabby. Assassination force is a high risk high reward kinda thing. Its either going to pay off or be an incredible waste.

The big issue, is the DW, IMO so take that as you want, are not meant to be a stand alone codex for games this large. They fill in a great role to round out an army or bump a 1250 army up to 1850, but on their own, they are just such a low model count, its going to be hard to keep them alive, or maintain board control.

So again, this list might be ok, but just be aware, small model count armies arnt going to stand very well to say 1850 of ork that are throwing literal buckets of dice at you.

Hey thanks for the reply!

I totally get where you're coming from concerning horde armies. When it comes to those, I have few options:

Eversor Assassin is a 135pt lawnmower with a grenade attached to it. It, alongside the Culexus and Callidus (which both only get shot by snapshots on Turn 1) are going to be able to threaten all the models starting on the table, and need to be dealt with.

The Furor Kill Team will be able to create a very large 24' bubble of death for footslogging infantry, MCs, and units embarked on Open-Topped transports. All of those things are quite popular with horde armies, so I'm confident in my 1st Turn being devastating. As the game moves on however, you're probably right: it's gonna get tough.

Your alpha strike will be strong that is for sure.

But thats also assuming you are going first, if your oponant goes first, you wont get the alpha strike with your assassin, and she will end up getting shot at and charged before she can really unleash her potential.

Your big issue is going to be either surviving or board control. Since its such a low model count, you would either be spread very thin, and end up dying, or clump up and be able to do a lot of damage and be hard to kill, but no board control

I've been wanting to field an MSU detachment of Inquisition for a while now. With the new "Deathwatch Transport" model, I just might have the chance to make these things. The detachment will cost about 250pts, sans Inquisitor, and it looks like this:

3x Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband

4x Acolyte w/Storm Bolter
1x Psyker (or) Acolyte w/Meltagun

Dedicated Transport - Razorback
TL Hvy Bolter // Psybolt Ammo


Now I could completely lose the one Aquila Kill Team, and thus have to sacrifice my whole Watch Company. I guess it depends on whether that MSU force would be worth the sacrifice of all DW losing "Decapitation Doctrine".

Welcome to playing Deathwatch! It's a fun and deep Codex to say the least!

A few things first... you can't take frag cannons and storm shields. To take a storm shield, a veteran has to replace one of his weapons... and to take a heavy weapon, you have to replace both weapons... so it's either-or :( Same for the combat shield on the other dudes.

I would be careful with the Blackspear detachment... it's great that everything can deep strike, but remember it's not quite like the GK one where you can do it turn 1... you may want to get some reserve manipulation in there for a reliable turn 2 "beta strike".

At 1850 I'd consider the Corvus Blackstar... it's been really good to me so far. I love the upgraded launcher (replaces stormstrike missiles) because of their skyfire profile which is super useful if/when you've gone to hover mode.

I've also been calling out the Purgation Killteam because it's been so successful for me... and it seems that you (as with a bunch of lists out there right now) are interested int he stalker pattern boltguns. I like 8 stalker pattern vets, 1 libby w/stalker pattern boltgun + banebolts relic, 1 terminator w/cyclone; that's a really nasty fearless sniping unit... if you attach coteaz like you said.. then ouch! even better!

The assassins are really hard to use on their own, especially if they're not coupled with an alpha strike army... so interested to hear how taht works for you. If you are looking to just secure parts of the board early, I'd consider a cheaper option like the formation of 3 scout squads from the Angels of Death, space marine supplement.

Hope that helps!

 xTHExCLINCHERx wrote:
Welcome to playing Deathwatch! It's a fun and deep Codex to say the least!

A few things first... you can't take frag cannons and storm shields. To take a storm shield, a veteran has to replace one of his weapons... and to take a heavy weapon, you have to replace both weapons... so it's either-or :( Same for the combat shield on the other dudes.

I would be careful with the Blackspear detachment... it's great that everything can deep strike, but remember it's not quite like the GK one where you can do it turn 1... you may want to get some reserve manipulation in there for a reliable turn 2 "beta strike".

At 1850 I'd consider the Corvus Blackstar... it's been really good to me so far. I love the upgraded launcher (replaces stormstrike missiles) because of their skyfire profile which is super useful if/when you've gone to hover mode.

I've also been calling out the Purgation Killteam because it's been so successful for me... and it seems that you (as with a bunch of lists out there right now) are interested int he stalker pattern boltguns. I like 8 stalker pattern vets, 1 libby w/stalker pattern boltgun + banebolts relic, 1 terminator w/cyclone; that's a really nasty fearless sniping unit... if you attach coteaz like you said.. then ouch! even better!

The assassins are really hard to use on their own, especially if they're not coupled with an alpha strike army... so interested to hear how taht works for you. If you are looking to just secure parts of the board early, I'd consider a cheaper option like the formation of 3 scout squads from the Angels of Death, space marine supplement.

Hope that helps!

I'm looking at the Codex right now and the Veterans says "Up to 4 Veterans may take items from the Heavy Weapons list" and the Deathwatch Wargear List has under "Heavy Weapons": "A model may replace his boltgun with one of the following:".

RAW, it looks like I can. Unless you're referencing something from the BRB which says otherwise (hope not), I'm hoping it's legit.

I can actually easily reorganize the Stalker Bolter vets into a Purgation Kill Team. Though instead of a Terminator I might just include a Biker to confer Split-Fire on 8 Stalker Bolters. With Coteaz attached it's very good, as you say.

I may also reorganize to allow me 3-4 Drop Pods so I can be sure of getting 2 units from Reserve Turn 1. The Assassins will be hard-pressed if they're by themselves on the other side of the board. I guess terrain is going to be a major issue for those guys. Even still, it seems very likely I will get Slay the Warlord, resulting in 1 Kill Point, and 2 VPs, and that's if I don't draw something good on Maelstrom.

Wow, sorry about that... looks like I was wrong. You can take a combat shield just as an add-on and yes, you only have to replace the boltgun... crazy. This is different than the wording in other SM-esque codices. Nice!

One thing with the purgation killteam though I've found is that the fearless really really helps (from the terminator) because if you do end up running, that results in a lost-turn of effective shooting since all the weapons are heavy... but YMMV.

 xTHExCLINCHERx wrote:
Wow, sorry about that... looks like I was wrong. You can take a combat shield just as an add-on and yes, you only have to replace the boltgun... crazy. This is different than the wording in other SM-esque codices. Nice!

One thing with the purgation killteam though I've found is that the fearless really really helps (from the terminator) because if you do end up running, that results in a lost-turn of effective shooting since all the weapons are heavy... but YMMV.

How would that set up compare to say...a Strategium Command Team with a Librarian granting Stubborn and Adamantium Will? You wont HAVE to get a Terminator, but you wont necessarily need one either.

I'm thinking I'm going to drop the Watch Company. A Black Spear Strike Force is plenty good with enough Aquila teams. I'm very seriously considering running that Storm Shield // Frag Cannon wedge as a Strategium Command Team for either the aforementioned Libby perks, or the 6+ FNP granted by the Watch Captain.

To be honest... weight of fire will just make the frag/shield guys disappear and make you cry points. It's just so expensive. But, I understand the cool factor and the power they wield. You'd be better off trying to give them shrouded or something via librarian to make them survivable... but yeah... I just dunno.. you'd have to play with it and see what works. the vet, shield and cannon makes losing a model worth more than like 3 normal marines... it's just rough.

On another note, I liked that the Purgation Killteam re-rolls against the HQ and unit he has joined... so its pretty threatening against them... I mean, imagine a command squad on bikes with their Chapter Master. You can use sniper to pick out the apothecary, with re-rolls, and depending on the powers you roll, change up your ammo to gaurantee kills almost. It's pretty cool. (2's to wound with re-rolling 1's is nice, and so is the AP3 shots with re-rolling 1's to get hot, plus you could have rolled perfect timing on Div... I just find that it's versatile and stacks so well!)

I honestly still like the Terminator better though because you "can" go to ground if you really really need to... although that makes you snapfire next turn... still... about the options IMO.

Thanks for the input gang!

I've updated my list and have settled on making my models closer to this new list, for large games.

The update includes:

- 3 Drop Pods, so I can Alpha Strike on Turn 1 with two hard hitting DW Squads in addition to the Assassins

- 3 units of Hemchmen give the list much needed bodies as well as better MSU capacity to secure those objectives.

- A bog-standard Drop Pod of 5 Sternguard with Combi-Weapons.

- an extra 50pts to round out the list by addin an Inquisitor or subbing the Watch Captain with Watch Captain Artemis.