Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I have a few questions about the deathwatch. Any help would be great

1. Do the Deathwatch have a "Chapter Master" or central Commander?
2. would the Deathwatch put two Marines from chapters who have issues with each other in the same team? i.e. Dark Angels and Space Wolves.
3. What weapons would DW terminaors use?
4. What would happen if a BA brother succumed to the Black Rage, whilst serving with the DW?

thanks for the help

Hmmm. Well the way I see it.
1. No they don't have a chapter master, they are an ordo millitant of the inquisition, created by them not a preexisting force. They most likely have some sort of hierarchy but they are not a chapter. More like an order.
2. Once the space marines join deathwatch they are fully committed to their new cause, when they paint their armor black they leave only one shoulder pad with the original colors, so to not insult and agitate the machine spirits. There might be some minor animosity between two such marines, but not nearly as big as before joining the deathwatch.
3. I guess they can take their pick, since they work for the inquisition they have on their disposal not only what they had in their chapter but more. If the weapon exist in the 40k lore they can use it.
4. That was actually in a C.S.Goto book, a horrible one as usual. Or maybe it was the red rage, not sure about that. Any way, he probably gets killed so that he doesn't compromise their mission on which other lives depend. If they aren't currently on a mission i suppose they will send him temporarily incapacitated to his chapter to be put in death-company. The space marines that join deathwatch are the best of them at killing xenos in the most merciless and creative ways possible, they are treated with a lot of respect.

redkommando wrote:
2. would the Deathwatch put two Marines from chapters who have issues with each other in the same team? i.e. Dark Angels and Space Wolves.

Why won't the rumor about Dark Angel and Space Wolves hating each other die? The DA and SW are bros, they have a friendly rivalry and have no real reason to hate each other, both chapters at least partially disregard the codex astartes, both distrust the inquisition for various reasons, and their primarchs always had a friendly rivalry. Even their duels whenever they meet are portrayed as more competition than anemosity.

redkommando wrote:I have a few questions about the deathwatch. Any help would be great

1. Do the Deathwatch have a "Chapter Master" or central Commander?
2. would the Deathwatch put two Marines from chapters who have issues with each other in the same team? i.e. Dark Angels and Space Wolves.
3. What weapons would DW terminaors use?
4. What would happen if a BA brother succumed to the Black Rage, whilst serving with the DW?

thanks for the help

1.Each Deathwatch Watch Fortress has a Watch Captain who is in charge of all of the marines stationed at that particular Watch Fortress. While various watch captains would communicate, there doesn't appear to be any centralized command.
2. Depends. The organization of deathwatch squads is up to the watch captain. The only detail we can be really sure of is they try not to put marines from the same chapter together, or at least no more than 2 in a squad.
3.Deathwatch terminators use everything normal terminators use, plus some more unique equipment that individual chapters may have donated to the deathwatch.
4.The Deathwatch has permanent members as well as the rotating roster of marines. One of those permanent members is a chaplain who is privy to a vast number of rites and rituals from all manner of chapters. Dealing with the Black Rage would certainly be among them. Now this isn't as big a deal as you might think because the chaplains won't be leaving the deathwatch any time soon, and all rotating marines are sworn to secrecy of what they witness while in the deathwatch. In a way, the deathwatch have the only example of nondenominational chaplains.

redkommando wrote:
1. Do the Deathwatch have a "Chapter Master" or central Commander?
:

In the Deathwatch RPG, there are Watch Captains and Watch Commanders. The Captains command a Kill-Team (in this case meaning recruit, train, equip and deploy), but usually do not accompany it on missions, supervising it from nearby instead, often from a Thunderhawk outfitted as mobile command post. The Watch Commanders coordinate the work of several Kill-Teams.

Thank you all for the assist.

the question about the terminators was because I was going to add a Ordos Xenos Inquisitor and a unit of "Grey Knight" terminators but convert them to be deathwatch terminators

redkommando wrote:Thank you all for the assist.

the question about the terminators was because I was going to add a Ordos Xenos Inquisitor and a unit of "Grey Knight" terminators but convert them to be deathwatch terminators

That won't work. Because Death Watch Terminators are nothing like Grey Knights.
What you could do is use the Space Marine Vanillia Dex take an HQ and two troop choices from the grey knights.

Asherian Command wrote:

redkommando wrote:Thank you all for the assist.

the question about the terminators was because I was going to add a Ordos Xenos Inquisitor and a unit of "Grey Knight" terminators but convert them to be deathwatch terminators

That won't work. Because Death Watch Terminators are nothing like Grey Knights.
What you could do is use the Space Marine Vanillia Dex take an HQ and two troop choices from the grey knights.

well im mean I wouldnt use the psyhic powers, but they all sorts of great toys to play with

You could model the unit leader as a Librarian and say that all the psychic special rules are due to his presence.

There are actually two distinct (and incompatible) Deathwatches in the fluff now - the original one consisting of small elite teams operating under aegis of the Ordo Xenos, and another much more vast organization that has its own spaceships and armoured formations. How the DW is structured depends very much on the source you're looking at. Remember, there is no such thing as a "canon" in 40k.

Original Games Workshop Deathwatch
1. No. There are only two ranks in GW's Deathwatch: Battle Brother and Captain. DW Captains lead Kill-Teams whenever they are not under direct supervision of an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor.
2. Unlikely. This would jeopardize the team's coherency and mission success.
3. The GW Deathwatch does not use Terminators, as they do not fit their mission profile.
4. [Speculation] If there is a chance a Marine would succumb to such drastic geneseed malignancies, he would not get sent to the DW in the first place. However, if for some reason he was deemed "safe", yet this happens and he becomes a threat to the team and the mission, he might well be have to be put down. If it happens outside a mission, he might simply be sent back asap.

FFG's Deathwatch
1. Sort of. There are "Watch Commanders" who are masters of giant "Watch Fortresses" and command all Captains and Kill-Teams attached to it, and the Deathwatch as a whole seems to be led by a council of them as they appoint new Watch Commanders. They also command entire fleets of invisible and fully automated "Kill-Ships" capable of delivering Exterminatus unseen. FFG's Deathwatch is not subject to the Inquisition at all and Watch Commanders are free to ignore Inquisitors without any consequences.
2. Unlikely. This would jeopardize the team's coherency and mission success.
3. I'd say this depends on the type of xenos they expect to fight. Unlike the GW Deathwatch, the Space Marines in FFG's DW are not equipped by the Inquisition, but by the Deathwatch itself, and the Marines c an cherrypick their wargear according to their renown within the organization.
4. [Speculation] If there is a chance a Marine would succumb to such drastic geneseed malignancies, he would not get sent to the DW in the first place. However, if for some reason he was deemed "safe", yet this happens and he becomes a threat to the team and the mission, he might well be have to be put down. If it happens outside a mission, he might simply be sent back asap.

Hope this helps!

A short story in the Hammer and Bolter Volume one book, exhumed, Is pretty good for shedding light on the leaders and organization (I think)

Tiger9gamer wrote:A short story in the Hammer and Bolter Volume one book, exhumed, Is pretty good for shedding light on the leaders and organization (I think)

Unless it introduces yet another version of the Deathwatch. The more sources you look at, the more authors you have, and the more interpretations you end up with.

For GW's Deathwatch I recommend looking at:
- White Dwarf US issue #305
- Index Astartes vol. II
- Inquisitor RPG (free download here)

"In battle, each team normally comes under the authority of an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor, but, in some exceptional cases, a Deathwatch Captain or Librarian may assume command if circumstances dictate."
- Index Astartes II : The Deathwatch and the Grey Knights

"The Deathwatch Squad consists of one Space Marine Captain and between 4 and 9 Deathwatch Space Marines. [...] The Captain can be upgraded to a Librarian (Codicier) at +X points."
- White Dwarf Killteam Rules

That said, Deathwatch Space Marines not only work in Deathwatch squads but also occasionally lead Ordo Xenos teams composed of normal humans.

"Originally of the Mortifactors Chapter, Brother Captain Artemis heads an Ordo Xenos killteam, whose role it is to exterminate alien-influenced cults, as well as recovering items of alien technology and destroying infestations of creatures such as Genestealers, Enslavers and Orks. He is trained to follow the spoor of such abominations, easily recognising the taint of alien dominance, detecting the subtlest stench of an inhuman presence."
- Inquisitor RPG

"I would probably never have a regular warrior band in my group that contained both a powerful Inquisitor and a Space Marine. That was part of the reasoning behind Captain Artemis – he leads Xenos kill-teams, he isn’t just a member of one. And I don’t mean leading Grey Knight or Deathwatch squads!"
- Gav Thorpe on Using Space Marines in Inquisitor

Here is said Captain Artemis, by the way:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1110218

1) No, the Deathwatch operate from Watch Fortresses, each led by a Watch Commander, who can do whatever he wants.
2) Yes, there probably have been cases of rival chapters fighting together in the Deathwatch.
3} DW Termies would use whatever combination of weapons they wanted, pretty much.
4) If he can no longer function in a kill-team. he'd probably be sent back to his chapter to join the Death Company, if not, he'll just stay.