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People call me a "space marine hater", and I enjoyed Deathwatch. But then, people are stupid/ignorant/plenty of other negative adjectives.

Even if you don't like Marines, the added fluff for enemies and equipment is always appreciated.

I don't really play as I don't have time to join a group. I just enjoy reading the fluff; which each book has plenty of. It's hard to say how much fluff is specifically tau so far as it's all intertwined into the background of the region and how the deathwatch react to it.

It has all shipped!!!

Take that Amazon!!!

My store gets them on Friday, but sometimes the shipment comes Thursday or earlier.

I ran the intro adventure twice.

A note to GMs who run the game. Don't skimp on free actions or movement, give players leeway to act like the Big Damn Heroes that they are. Sticking solely to the combat actions rules can lead to boring dice offs that RPGs are not supposed to be. If the players role play well, give them that extra movement to duck behind a corner for cover before unleashing a full auto attack, or let them pull off a stunt without a roll as part of his normal movement. Break the adventure apart and add as much of your own flare as possible. In the Final Sanction free adventure, I always added elements of time and choice, providing hints to players that if they did one thing before another, there would be consequences for either part of the adventure. Adding things like the players seeing columns of enemy reinforcements in the distance going towards key mission areas, but if they delay to take them out, they might alert more troops to their position or take up valuable time reaching a different objective, but on the other hand, it can make those other objectives easier and give bigger bonuses there down the line.

And always, always, provide more interesting things happening than the enemy just shoots back.

Also, the adventures given by FFG don't always list things like engagement ranges, but these are actually critically important. Starting enemies out too close can cause things to devolve into dice offs, and if you want to do that, just play the miniatures game. Try factoring in how many degrees of success a player gets on his awareness checks to see how far away the enemy starts from the players, instead of that check just determining if players even get an initiative roll.

A lot of the enemies Deathwatch face will absolutely murder even the vaunted space marines if you start them out too close to their targets.

And even if the adventure calls for you to start enemies close by, don't just run them at the player. Let them take cover, go prone, dodge into the shadows to try to get the drop, take up defensive positions and the like.

This not only makes an encounter more interesting, it gives players playing the assault marine or devastator more interesting things to do and can balance out how deadly they are. A devastator firing into a crowd in the open can wipe out entire hordes, but putting the same horde in medium to heavy cover and you can make it a more interesting encounter with the devastator pulling suppression duty, that one man trying to keep the entire column pinned so that his battle brothers can flank some heavy weapons to the side before dealing with the main column.

Oh and try splitting up enemies into clusters with different initiatives, it can be way too devastating to have all enemies act at the same time, especially with hordes and the like. Haven't them all on the same initiative is like having a supremely coordinated enemy at all times.

Remember these tips, since Deathwatch is such a combat heavy game, it can actually require more work from the GM to make sure the game doesn't devolve into dice fests, rather than role playing.

T'is a thing of beauty this book.

Hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate
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Can I have some of what you are having, I can't take these knife twists any more..

The Gm screen, whilst also being surprisingly sturdy, seems better thought out than some of the earlier efforts in this regard.

My plans to spend the evening hugging said tome and rocking back forth whispering things about it being precious were, alas, disrupted by an unplanned all night long drinking session/impromptu pub quiz. It's a tough, tough life.

I've pretty much been waiting for this game/book since about 1987, so i guess I can die happy now. I feel like a coyote who has just eaten a roadrunner.

Oh yeah, I forgot, my copy is already on its way.

And I "have" Into the Storm already.


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reds8n wrote:The Gm screen, whilst also being surprisingly sturdy, seems better thought out than some of the earlier efforts in this regard.

There's a fairly good overview of the GM kit over on the official forum. Someone got one way early and went over everything with it. The "killing of Tau" emphasis was enough to sell it to me, but it actually seems like a decent product, unlike, say, the RT GM Kit.

reds8n wrote:I feel like a coyote who has just eaten a roadrunner.

There's an episode where he does catch him, but he's shrunk down to tiny size when it happens. Kinda tragic really.

H.B.M.C. wrote:Hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate
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Hate leads to anger, anger leads to suffering... all of this is the dark side.

Or he might be reciting the litanies of hate against the foul xenos.

reds8n wrote:The Gm screen, whilst also being surprisingly sturdy, seems better thought out than some of the earlier efforts in this regard.

My plans to spend the evening hugging said tome and rocking back forth whispering things about it being precious were, alas, disrupted by an unplanned all night long drinking session/impromptu pub quiz. It's a tough, tough life.

I've pretty much been waiting for this game/book since about 1987, so i guess I can die happy now. I feel like a coyote who has just eaten a roadrunner.

You missed the Meep Meep.

I've found my self walking into my FLGS every day this week... "Is it here yet?" As soon as I have it in my hands the next question will be... "When will you get "Rites of War?""

Kroothawk wrote:How much info on Tau/Kroot is in Deathwatch, would it be enough to justify a buy for a Space marine hater?
But maybe an upcoming adventure is also on Tau.

Turning this around, which books for "Rogue Trader" and "Dark Heresy" would generally be the most useful for a Deathwatch campaign?
Creature Anthema... in the least, any others?

Creatures book would be. Into the Storm would be (vehicle rules). Ascension, oddly enough, for NPC's or alternate PC's that are of a comparative level. If you want ships, then Rogue Trader obviously (and Into the Storm helps here as well, as it has new ship classes).

Not much else that's specific. I mean, The Inquisitor's Handbook is useful in Rogue Trader because all the weapons are useful for the same sorts of characters. Marines are a bit 'beyond' those types of weapons, so as useful as the IH is, it's not great for Deathwatch.

The Demon Prince and Hive Tyrant both seem suitably OTT.

... nice to see, as mentioned before, on page 15 the little bit of blurb about how only males can be made into marines too.

I might make the entire text of that section my sig at the Deathwatch forums. Bloody female Space Marine threads.

The Hive Tyrant is nuts, but did you notice that the Barbed Strangler and Stranglethorn cannon have the same stats? Ooops!! Proof reading fail!

just looked at that


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had a look @ the DW books on FFG and still say Soon.

Maelstrom says October some time. Amazon says sometime in 2013... no, it just went to 2014... 2015... now 2016... 2017. Geez...

H.B.M.C. wrote:Hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate
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i'm glad that you've stopped beating around the bush and just posted what you really mean.

FLGS in the US should be recieving their copies today and tomorrow. DW, the space hulk card game, and a number of other FFG releases were shipped out Tuesday, so that they could be on shelves for this weekend. My FLGS gave me there tracking number so I could drool at my desk rather than on his floor. FFG was apparently zealous about getting these out since they have so many releases going on right now they're working frantic to avoid a log jam.

reds8n wrote: The Demon Prince and Hive Tyrant both seem suitably OTT.

... nice to see, as mentioned before, on page 15 the little bit of blurb about how only males can be made into marines too.

And as this is the MOST RECENT background material, hopefully that will finally put paid to ALL of those threads... forever!

A little piece of me dies every time I read another lame excuse to justify "it." I've even had some ask "how about a (transgendered)?"... speachless. Its just painful, because it just doesn't matter. That even if allowed, in the game and setting it just wouldn't come up.

Some people miss the point, that in a game like this you are roleplaying something specific and to do other wise is contrary to the games purpose. You wouldn't buy a shooting game if what you want was a sports game. This "conflict" is in as much contrast as that. Pointless.

Alpharius wrote:And as this is the MOST RECENT background material, hopefully that will finally put paid to ALL of those threads... forever!

doubtful. as long as the fan pics make them look hot, there will be female marines threads and conversions.

My Deathwatch rule book just shipped yesterday!! Go Canadian Amazon!! Should be here by tomorrow or Monday.

Oddly enough, neither the DW core rules, DM screen, or Into the Storm are shown on amazon.ca anymore. Might be out of stock or something...

-Tyr

Tyr wrote:My Deathwatch rule book just shipped yesterday!! Go Canadian Amazon!! Should be here by tomorrow or Monday.

Oddly enough, neither the DW core rules, DM screen, or Into the Storm are shown on amazon.ca anymore. Might be out of stock or something...

-Tyr

I don't know about Amazon Canada, but Amazon UK have been rubbish lately. I'd rather order from FLGS.

Amazon US is saying both 9/28/10 AND "In stock but may require an extra 1-2 days to process."

So...

Still, as reds8n mentioned earlier, some of us have been waiting a LONG time for this type of RPG, so, a few more days will be OK.

Maybe!

Alpharius wrote:Amazon US is saying both 9/28/10 AND "In stock but may require an extra 1-2 days to process."

So...

Still, as reds8n mentioned earlier, some of us have been waiting a LONG time for this type of RPG, so, a few more days will be OK.

Maybe!

And some of us still have at least another 8 weeks to wait for our DW copies. Considering that I had doubts DW was still going to happen when FFG first took DH, I can wait (im)patiently. Wait, I just realized my DW will be in a metal box, does that mean they will take it away?

temprus wrote:Considering that I had doubts DW was still going to happen when FFG first took DH, I can wait (im)patiently.

THAT is a VERY good point - I had my doubts back then too.

But mostly because I didn't consider the "Deathwatch" angle...

H.B.M.C. wrote:It has all shipped!!!

Take that Amazon!!!

Amazon Canada shipped my copy on the 15th and now I'm holding the book in my hands

Does Amazon carry the DW Game Master's Kit too?

Sadly, my Amazon-fu is insufficient enough to locate it!