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Hi guys, girls and xenos!

I have a Deathwatch list that I wrote up the other day that I would like to share with you all! Would you guys be able to give me some feedback on it?


BLACK SPEAR STRIKE FORCE- 2000 Points

COMMAND- 145p

WATCH CAPTAIN ARTEMIS- 145p


CORE- 1505p

WATCH COMPANY- 1505p

=WATCH CAPTAIN- 205p
-Artificer Armour, Inferno Pistol, Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield, Beacon Angelis

=DOMINATUS KILL TEAM- 310p
-Vanguard Veteran w/ Heavy Thunder Hammer
-Vanguard Veteran w/ 2x Lightning Claw
-Black Shield w/ Power Sword and CCW
-Watch Sergeant w/ Xenophase Sword and Storm Shield
-Veteran w/ Power Maul and Storm Shield
-Veteran w/ Flamer and CCW
-Veteran w/ Boltgun and Power Sword

=FUROR KILL TEAM- 315p
-Vanguard Veteran w/ Inferno Pistol and Power Sword
-Terminator w/ Meltagun Power Fist and Assault Cannon
-Veteran w/ Frag Cannon
-Veteran w/ Frag Cannon
-Veteran w/ Frag Cannon
-Veteran w/ Shotgun
-Veteran w/ Power Maul and Boltgun

=MALLEUS KILL TEAM- 405p
-Librarian w/ Mastery Level 2
-Terminator w/ Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
-Watch Sergeant w/ Xenophase Sword and Storm Shield
-Veteran w/ Heavy Thunder Hammer
-Veteran w/ Heavy Thunder Hammer
-Veteran w/ Inferno Pistol and Power Axe
-Veteran w/ Frag Cannon

=VENATOR KILL TEAM- 270p
-Biker w/ Power Sword
-Biker w/ Teleport Homer and Power Axe
-Watch Sergeant w/ Combi-Plasma and Power Fist
-Veteran w/ Power Sword and Boltgun
-Veteran w/ Stalker Bolter
-Veteran w/ Stalker Bolter
-Veteran w/ Infernus Heavy Bolter

AUXILIARY

ANCIENT- 135p
-Venerable Dreadnought Nihilus

CORVUS BLACKSTAR- 215p
-TL Assault Cannon, Hurricane Bolter, TL Blackstar Rocket Launcher, Infernum Halo Launcher

How does it look? What should I change?

On a side note, I am willing to swap out Artemis on occasion, most likely in place for an Inquisitor or an Assassin.

What sort of environment are you going to be playing in? The only reason I ask is because this list is very low model count, which will be spread out over multiple turns.. however, the equipment in it is very expensive but good.

Here's some general advice for Deathwatch that I'd throw out there, just from what I've experienced.. YMMV of course:

- The Blackspear Strike Force is great... if you have a way to pair them up with reserve manipulation or accurate arrival. You want to be very careful of delivering your very expensive units, one at a time.

- Don't forget that a unit of 10 models, 5 vets 5 bikes is T5, and puts out a TON of accurate special ammo shots... This is an expensive unit, but a bare-bones Venator Killteam can be insanely good! I'd try it out at least once.

- I would actually recommend a CAD allied with the Blackspear Strike Force; or, depending on how your local scene rules on "number of sources/detachments" just take a collection of formations... the reason is, the Deathwatch have a very unique ability to field pesky units of 1-2 models... this is a huge pain in some cases because a lot of dangerous units put out enough firepower to wipe squads... but to have to dump that in 2 bikes, or 1 TH/SS terminator is hilariously awesome! Try taking some units like that in a CAD just to distract and spread out your opponents fire, pulling it away from your main, expensive units.

- At 2000 points you will probably come up against some heavy-hitting units like Riptide units, Gargantuan Creatures, Knights, etc. This may be tough to deal with, unfortunately. Heavy thunderhammers are nice, but unless you've got a unit of like... 4 of them with a chaplain, with Artemis' D-bomb, in a Corvus Blackstar.... and can get them into assault with it... that may actually be ok at that point limit... I dunno.. but yeah, you get where i'm going.

- Take advantage of the Killteams' special rules like you are, except just take equipment on those models that fits the real purpose of tha tkillteam... like the Furor Killteam kills troops... troops are in cover a lot, or can jink, or have 3+ saves, etc. so try to gear them up to combat that, etc.

- One final point, perhaps consider an ally for your heavy-lifting... Knights, Grav (either Skyhammer or space marines Allies with cents in a pod), etc. and let the Deathwatch handle small clutch plays like clearing objectives or bothering things with small strike forces.

Hope that helps!

You've spent 1,300 points on 4 7-man kill teams (over 46 points per model), with average toughness of tactical marines. This is almost a guardsmen squad per marine in your army, and save for maybe the frag cannons I don't think a watch trooper can achieve a 10-1 kill death ratio.

I think it's a bit excessive that every single model should carry upgraded wargear - especially when each marine is carrying different wargear to the rest of his unit as they just wont synergise that well.

In a similar vein to what xTHExCLINCHERx was saying, killteams with very little additional wargear can be incredibly effective - especially when you can build up overlapping buffs from mission tactics, kill team doctrines and watch company formation boosts that basically give you army wide rerolls on every single weapon (if you can direct your killteams at their preferred targets). As an example, here's a cheap furor kill team that I find effective in a watch company:

1 terminator with heavy flamer/powerfist
4 veterans with shotgun/boltgun
1 veteran with frag cannon

For 185 points before transport options (31 points per model), these guys can take on any troops choice I've ever come across - against hordes or cover saves every model can put down templates, against transports you have the frag cannon, grenades and powerfist and against heavy infantry your worst ap weapon is the heavy flamer. And if you run out of xeno troops to burn, target anything containing an independent character, psyker, warlord or your current mission tactic target - and against all of these you will be rerolling pretty much everything.

If you do take up the option of adding a CAD you can build some really interesting units other than 1 man squads that can rival the killteams for effectiveness. A jump captain with the tome of ectoclades and 5 bikers with power weapons can essentially take on the role of a different kill team every turn, and benefit from being faster, tougher, more accurate and are able to engage multiple units each turn thanks to split fire.