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Heya,

I¨ve been looking thru the dex, but it seems to me that assault based kill teams will get shot off the table after DS and just shooty kill teams are too expensive to do something and be worth their points, also my concern is that this army always ets low model count and that is problem when deep striking if using BSSF. Do you have any suggestions how to make the most competitive army with this dex on 1850 that will be somewhat balanced? If it wont be balanced, at least tell me which armies should I avoid.

thx for suggestions

I been toying with the ideal to ally with Inquisition for super cheap extra bodies to camp backfield objectives. This way the DW can either pod or deepstrike in with some support.

I also playtested DW with a Knight and it did well as the knight drew all of the focus until it was gone.

DW are going to be low model count army. I agree I haven't been able to truly make a melee focused list that didn't seem super fragile. I think maybe a single kill team kitted for melee in a corvus would do well.

My main worry above all else would be tau intercepting everything. It feels like the biggest counter.

I take 2 frag cannon's per squad to keep the cost down. I try to utilize the special ammo as much as I can. The poison ammo seems to be totally awesome for me so far, being able to dump wounds on high T models to force saves.

is it a good idea to take watch company inside BSSF and take all aquillas with 2 frags, 1 melta and 1 extra bike for split fire? Also wanted to get next CAD for objective secured veterans + lone vanguard veterans with inferno pistols (also possible to switch wih terminators)

how would that work out on 1850?

I will firstly say I have never played DW before so I may be incorrect on some things.

I would try to include some or all of the following:

-Give an IC the Dominus Aegis and attach him to an allied blob of cheap infantry from another codex to absorb fire and hold onto important backfield objectives. IG work very well for this as you can get a cheap 50man conscript blob and and 2 10 man infantry squads to sit on objectives, along with a CCS to give them orders. Attach priest to conscripts for fearless and boom, now you have a 50 man blob with a 4++ and fearless. Taking IG also gives you access to good artillery like Wyverns and Manticores.
-Include a Knight to make an excellent distraction.
-Include lots of Fragstorm cannons as they threaten nearly every type of unit on the board with their 2 fire modes. Expensive, but I have seen these things devastate, it's sickening.

You can fit in a Cad upto 50 DW guys if you keep the guys cheap.

That being said....I would not play my guys as Deathwatch.

All things being equal, I'd play 1st Company Taskforce using my DW guys.

You give up: DW wargear ( and the Frag Cannon and Stalker Pattern boltgun are awesome) and relics., unit wide special weapons, rerolls of 1 with any weapon against a specialized unit type ( or more, if you take the expensive kill teams), Obsec.

You gain: Combat Squads, Fearless, bolt pistols( w/o special ammo), a relic blade for your commander, and rerolls all the time against everything with your boltguns, if you take Imperial Fists or Sentinels of Terra.

I feel the trade off is worth it. A. you need bodies, so you're gonna keep the special stuff to a minimum and rely on your bolters and special ammo. It's been tried and true. B. So you want 50 or so guys. By being allowed to combat squad, you can get more units to grab objectives. C. Fearless means you won't have to worry about units running off objectives etc. C. Rerolls at all times for bolter weapons IMHO trumps being able to reroll a melta or plasma some of the time. D. you can take gravcannons which are highly effective so they compensate for loss of Fragcannon. E. Bolt pistols lets you shoot and charge. Same number of attacks in melee. F. If you want melee you can take VVets with cheaper weapon options.

( you take the strike force command option for your HQ. OK he's not Fearless.....shrug).

Deathwatch veterans have combat squad, FYI.

Another advantage of deathwatch is frag cannons. They're one of the single strongest weapons in the game.

5x10 Vets with 2x Frag cannons each in drop pods costs 1525.

Add another 5 man vet squad with 2 frag cannons and a ML2 libby in terminator armor and you're at 1835.

Honesty i dont think you can make an ultra competitive list of pure Deathwatch at 1850, they suffer the same problem terminator armies do, you have very few wounds to go around.

If you run pure deathwatch you will jsut get drowned in buckets of dice and loose models one by one.

Now if you take them as a formation attatched to something maybe, then then at that point, you should just be running the full formation of your other unit anyways.

My bad. It's not listed under their special rules but in the back.

Do all Marine units have to combat squad before they roll for Warlord Traits?