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Just like the title says, is it worth it? I'm getting the rules for free from a friend, I've always been interested in playing, but is it worth getting all the right supplies? By supplies I mean space marine minis, Xenos, etc. Or do you even need to buy all these things? I have a large amount of minatures already from playing WH40k, and would hate to spend to much money. Regardless of this I'll be making my own deathwatch model.

You don't need minis, its quite an abstracty sort of RPG. Personally I'd use something like SARN-FU or some other sort of system rather than turning it into a wargame!

We use miniatures for everything, custom building our Marines for each character. Yes, we're obsessive, but we have a couple hundred thousand points worth of 40K between us all, covering every army except Dark Eldar, so it's pretty easy.

You don't need to play it with miniatures though. You can do everything in an abstract or purely cerebral manner. Or you can use basic maps and tokens, or go the full blown miniatures/terrains/detailed tile sets and professionally produced map sheets like we do (I loves me some map sheets!!!).

Eh if nothing else our deathwatch characters would be the only miniatures on the board, most of the people I play with either play imperial forces, necrons, or tau. I guess I'll decide really once I get the rules and start playing

No, the game is terrible. As a favor, because I am such a nice guy, I will properly dispose of the book for you so that you do not have to worry about it. So go ahead and send it to me, priority mail preferred, of course.

Wow. Thanks for that Ahtman. That was helpful.

Deathwatch, like all the other W40k RPGs, does not require the miniatures. Spacing is meant to be dramatic and abstract, as is the amount of "time" between rounds.

The pros of DeathWatch are:

1) It involves fighting off whole hordes of enemies, so the conflict is on a scale beyond that of its counterparts (with the exception of Only War). Deathwatch Marines are elite even amongst Marines, so if you want the kind of game where you single-handedly wipe out entire Hormagaunt broods, then this game is for you.

2) It's mission based with very clear objectives. That makes it less open-ended than most RPGs, but some players like that.

3) It's probably the most teamwork-oriented of the W40KRPGs so far (again next to Only War). Players pretty much have to work together or die; you don't get problems where individual players backstab each as often. That's kind of a nice change from some other RPGs.

4) If you play 40k, it's kind of rewarding. You get to see how much effort it takes to really kill someone in a Broadside suit, or how bad getting shot by a Splinter cannon really is.

The cons are:

1) It's not as up close and personal as Dark Heresy or Rogue Trader. Marines tend to be very cookie-cutter, even from different chapters. They're hard to empathize with.

2) Plots tend to be fairly cookie cutter as well. They tend to be restricted to "go there, get this, come back".

3) Combat still takes too long. It can take entire hours to finish a single short skirmish.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Wow. Thanks for that Ahtman. That was helpful.

Someone lacks a sense of humour.

I play with a few rules lawyers and power gamers. Our games usually involve the GM trying to stay true to the 40K fluff and the other gamers breaking down into, "The rules say this and this book says that, so I can do it." Combat takes way too long and at higher ranks your team will blow through everything with ease. Last week's session saw our team of five take out a CSM army with no problems. It mainly depends on the GM and what he will and won't put up with.

Deathwatch is a great game provided you make a few changes.

The first is following the FAQ, including the weapon damage changes.

The second is banning imperial fists from becoming librarians. (there's a trick where they can take a shot from a titan and be un-harmed)

The third and final is following the renown system to the letter so the group doesn't get all the shiny toys early.

Me and some friends are about to get into this game too. Not sure but I get the impression its one of those games where its really hard to die. Is that true?

It is really hard to die, yes. Your GM has to really work at it, or you have to do insane things (charge a Trygon with nothing but a knife).

i gm a rouge trader, and someone put in their space marine charicter... IT DOES NOT DIE!!!!

dark eldar home world, he slaped it in the ass and raeped it

tyranid invation, he killed THE ENTIRE SWARM WITH HIS TEAM all while sipping a cup of tea

necrons... he finaly died... necrons.. op


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not to mention his team died too and the ship, and their army, and the only thing left was the captins pet brain washed hormagaunt ( long story.. )