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Since the Deathwatch Codex dropped I've been trying to find a good way to mix them in with what was previously a Blood Angels/Guard list. I've put the army through a couple tournaments now and found some things that work and some things that don't work. I'm hoping to get some feedback on where I'm going now versus where the list was at, as well as just explain the army to myself as that's often helpful to me.

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++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Astra Militarum) [18 PL, 285pts] ++

+ No Force Org Slot +

Regimental Doctrine: Cadian

+ HQ +

Company Commander [2 PL, 30pts]: Chainsword, Laspistol

Primaris Psyker [2 PL, 46pts]: Force Stave

Primaris Psyker [2 PL, 46pts]: Force Stave

+ Troops +

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 45pts]
. 7x Guardsman
. Heavy Weapon Team: Mortar
. Sergeant: Laspistol

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 45pts]
. 7x Guardsman
. Heavy Weapon Team: Mortar
. Sergeant: Laspistol

Infantry Squad [3 PL, 40pts]: 9x Guardsman
. Sergeant: Laspistol

+ Heavy Support +

Heavy Weapons Squad [3 PL, 33pts]
. Heavy Weapon Team: Mortar
. Heavy Weapon Team: Mortar
. Heavy Weapon Team: Mortar

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Deathwatch) [72 PL, 897pts] ++

+ HQ +

Watch Captain [7 PL, 119pts]: Bolt Pistol, Jump Pack, Storm Bolter, Thunder hammer

Watch Captain [7 PL, 119pts]: Bolt Pistol, Jump Pack, Storm Bolter, Thunder hammer

Watch Captain [7 PL, 119pts]: Bolt Pistol, Jump Pack, Storm Bolter, Thunder hammer

+ Troops +

Veterans [17 PL, 180pts]
. Black Shield: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Watch Sergeant: Chainsword, Storm Bolter

Veterans [17 PL, 180pts]
. Black Shield: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Watch Sergeant: Chainsword, Storm Bolter

Veterans [17 PL, 180pts]
. Black Shield: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Veteran: Chainsword, Storm Bolter
. Watch Sergeant: Chainsword, Storm Bolter

++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Blood Angels) [48 PL, 818pts] ++

+ HQ +

Captain [6 PL, 129pts]: Jump Pack, Storm shield, Thunder hammer

Captain [6 PL, 129pts]: Jump Pack, Storm shield, Thunder hammer

Captain [6 PL, 129pts]: Jump Pack, Storm shield, Thunder hammer

+ Troops +

Scout Squad [4 PL, 55pts]
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout Sergeant: Boltgun, Chainsword

Scout Squad [4 PL, 55pts]
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout Sergeant: Boltgun, Chainsword

Scout Squad [4 PL, 57pts]
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout: Boltgun
. Scout Sergeant: Chainsword, Storm bolter

+ Elites +

Death Company [9 PL, 164pts]: Jump Pack
. Death Company Marine: Thunder hammer
. Death Company Marine: Thunder hammer
. Death Company Marine: Thunder hammer
. Death Company Marine: Thunder hammer
. Death Company Marine: Boltgun, Chainsword

Death Company [9 PL, 100pts]: Jump Pack
. Death Company Marine: Boltgun, Chainsword
. Death Company Marine: Boltgun, Chainsword
. Death Company Marine: Boltgun, Chainsword
. Death Company Marine: Boltgun, Chainsword
. Death Company Marine: Boltgun, Chainsword

++ Total: [138 PL, 2000pts] ++

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Because this army has gone through a lot of iteration and seen a lot of table time I'm going to explain things more in-depth than most posts probably would. It's probably a slog but please try to read what I have to say before commenting, usually people just check out the list, skip what I wrote, and don't post anything helpful.

Overview

The point of the army is to enable Blood Angels to deliver themselves into melee while the Deathwatch remove screens and act as Objective holders. As 8th Edition has progressed I've noticed that shooting is getting worse and worse with more -1 to Hit, Invulnerable Saves, and other rules that work against ranged attacks. With that in mind I've moved myself towards a more melee focused army as I value things dying right away more than ease of delivery. This is also somewhat focused on the ITC Missions which mostly incentivize removing enemy units/models, hitting something once and removing it is a bit better in that environment than when playing with the GW Missions.

Imperial Guard

My Imperial Guard Detachment pretty much only exists for the Company Commander, who is always the Warlord and takes the CP Relic/Trait combo. While I have a fair amount of CP the army goes through it very quickly unless I can get some back, this is where the Commander comes in. I have two Primaris Psykers for cheap Deny the Witch as well as some Smite, most of their other powers aren't useful for this list but I'd rather have the full Smite instead of saving 16pts by dropping to an Astropath as it's just short of getting me another meaningful body.

The Infantry Squads are pure screens and don't usually make it past Turn 1, they have Mortars to avoid The Reaper from being a viable Secondary Objective against me. Finally I have a HWS, this is just to help handle screens before the Deathwatch show up assuming I can get a Captain in on Turn 1 as well. Finally I went with Cadians because it helps the HWS and nothing else is really useful with this few Guardsmen.

Blood Angels

This is the anti-Vehicle portion of the army, for the most part. Three Smash Captains are great at killing most Vehicles by either double charging or putting on in and using Red Fury/Honor the Chapter. Almost every game one of them purchases The Angel's Wings as it's one of the best Relics in the game. All of these start on the board and I'll typically fling one off right away via Upon Wings of Fire. As extra insurance I have a Death Company squad with Thunder Hammers, these have great math into almost any heavy target and are fairly cheap, they also pair nicely with a Captain into something like a Knight as the re-rolls help and even if someone interrupts me the Captain is likely to live and the Death Company already swung.

My other Death Company unit is for Turn 1 screen clearing or optional back-field shenanigans. If there's nothing to fling a Captain into they'll start on the board and either pre-game move or Upon Wings of Fire to clear things out. This is primarily with Guard/Tau in mind but they work well against Rangers too, basically it's essential that I have some room to operate on Turn 2. The unit is also comparably priced to other popular options in the same role but is more flexible and has better math. Rounding out I have three Scout units, these are my "screen" to keep the Characters safe from gunlines. Typically it's easy to hide 1-2 units and keep them bunkered down until I can start removing threats, they also keep Deep Strike out when needed and are solid Objective holders, all around a do the dirty work unit.

Deathwatch

This is what I think puts the list over the top compared to BA/IG or even BA/IG/Custodes. In general Guard have horribly inefficient shooting and suffer from the Tau problem of not being able to handle -1 to Hit, this made it hard to get through screens for me early on. While Shield-Captains are great they have a lot more weaknesses than people think and also tend to die quickly as they cross mid-field but nothing comes with them. What I prefer about Deathwatch is they kill pretty much anything except Vehicles and do so from relative safety due to Deep Strike. Previously I was running Intercessors but Veterans out-perform offensively against nearly every target in shooting and always out-perform in Combat. While the extra Wound is good most armies are shooting bigger guns at my Deathwatch anyways as I kill most of the anti-Infantry stuff when I come down.

While I was running a Librarian previously I've swapped him to another Captain. With a TH/SB load-out they fight better, shoot better, and let me spread my Aura more in return for losing some powers that I rarely got use out of. Might of Heroes is great but it's been hard to get it onto the Blood Angel Captains and it does less for the DW Captains while Null Zone is extremely situational on top of having to be cast/not denied. The Captains can double up and put a hurt on Vehicles, which gives me more punch, and the additional shooting is welcome. So far the Watch Captains rarely get into Combat with actually dangerous melee units like the BA Captains do so the Storm Shield omission saves points and gives me more guns.

Weaknesses

My old list had a few problems both in terms of specific armies and more vague setups. One was lists which could put out good screens, usually Rangers/Scouts/Sentinels, or bubble-wrap something multiple times like a Knight with Guardsmen. I'm hoping that the Death Company addition plus more shooting starting on the board with the Watch Captains, as well as the Scouts keeping long-ranged guns off me will alleviate that. Being able to move 12" and then Rapid Fire at 15" could let me sneak into the Deployment Zone and I should have no problem getting rid of 2 Ranger units.

Problematic armies have mostly been Dark Eldar and Ynaari bu an army focused around 1-2 Big Knights could be bad as well. Dark Eldar bring too many cheap, extremely powerful/resilient Transports for me to be comfortable with and back it up with under-priced Fliers/Ravagers. Previously this put a lot of pressure on my Captains but I've now added Death Company and another Watch Captain, even the Chainsword Death Company can get through a Venom if needed with Honor the Chapter. Adding additional volume shooting from the Deathwatch also gives me good odds to open two Venoms a turn with shooting, again very helpful.

Ynaari is more a case of being able to handle Shining Spears or Dark Reapers. Reapers love to die to Deathwatch and can only anti-Deep Strike once. Shining Spears require a lot of wrapping which I can somewhat do, fortunately they die to Thunder Hammers or Deathwatch depending on what defensive powers went off as most lists are running 1-2 Warlocks now. Finally the Big Knights are effectively impossible to kill in one turn and can become actually impossible with Traits/Relics. If there's two the Objective game is pretty open and I can work one down, if there's one then I can try to delay until I remove the rest of the army and then kill it over time. Fortunately the Big Knights have pretty terrible guns for their cost and I can one-turn regular Knights.

As far as Scenario goes I think the list is okay but not great. I give up Head Hunter with ease but nothing else. Old School is probably a 3 Point-er as my Warlord is pretty safe and not every army can get into your Deployment Zone at the end of the game. Recon helps me a bit because my army is so melee focused, anything that brings someone to me is usually to my advantage. I do have a lot of units and most of them are easy to pick up so Kill More is usually against me while I can drop a lot of places with Deep Strike I'm not the most mobile list around and have to chase things down instead of standing on an Objective. This is there the Deathwatch are helpful as they can daisy-chain with ObSec.

Overall I think I do better into most matchups than my old list without really exposing new weaknesses. There's some armies which I just wouldn't be able to handle but they're more off-meta and every list has those so you just deal with it.

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That's all I have for the list right now, I don't really have any changes in mind other than downgrading one of the Primaris Psykers to an Astropath and dropping the useless Stormbolter on a Scout Sergeant, I don't see much that I can do with those points though and I'm trying to not add units. However since I made the list I'm probably a bit too close to it and that's where posting it helps. I'm also curious to hear about matchup problems with the army and that kind of thing because it lets me pre-game in my head instead of showing up to the table and saying "Oh crap".

Swap two of the blood angel captains for a chaplain, a sanguinary guard and/or librarian. The captains become redundant. You would much rather have +1 strength/heals, morale/+to wound, warp buffs. Just a thought.

Swap one captain for lemartes. He gives DC re-rolls to failed charges and failed hits in the fight phase. Make one captn a captn slamguinius. He can take out a knight in one turn.

Solitaire_890 wrote:
Swap two of the blood angel captains for a chaplain, a sanguinary guard and/or librarian. The captains become redundant. You would much rather have +1 strength/heals, morale/+to wound, warp buffs. Just a thought.

Chaplains don't hit hard, as I stated the only goal of the Captains is to kill Vehicles. The re-roll Aura doesn't compensate enough for the missing model. Sanguinary Guard also don't hit as hard as Death Company, they're only more survivable, so DC are almost always the right call if you need something actually killed. I also don't have a BA Warlord which hurts them. Librarian would be okay if they could have better weapons, they shine more in a pure BA list because you can get more out of their awesome spells, my list doesn't take advantage of that though. It could be re-tooled to do so but then I would likely lack in other areas. That's why the Captains are redundant, I need blunt tools for a specific job.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 p5freak wrote:
Swap one captain for lemartes. He gives DC re-rolls to failed charges and failed hits in the fight phase. Make one captn a captn slamguinius. He can take out a knight in one turn.

Can't run the full Smash Captain because I need the Company Commander to be the Warlord in most games. If you were allowed to swap around pre-game I would certainly do that but I play tournament style even in one off games. Otherwise I'd love to have him. I do purchase The Ange's Wings nearly every game.

Lemartes unfortunately doesn't outweigh the Captain in terms of enabling my list so that would be a loss of efficiency in most games. I'd only see a benefit against Lords of War which are not yet common enough for me to consider that.

You have 18 CP. What do you need those for ? You could buy the veritas vitae as second relic for one BA character for 3CP. Not as good as grand strategist, but it would allow you to make one BA captn the slamguinius. Or just leave everything as it is, invest two more CP for the veritas vitae, and you can roll one more dice for every stratagem you use. With 18 CP you have a good chance of getting more CP back than the two you invested in the veritas vitae.

If you remove one captain from your BA batallion, and the two DC units, and get a third cheap elite unit (company champion, company ancient ?) you can get another vanguard detachment. But i guess you are limited to three detachments ?

 p5freak wrote:
You have 18 CP. What do you need those for ? You could buy the veritas vitae as second relic for one BA character for 3CP. Not as good as grand strategist, but it would allow you to make one BA captn the slamguinius. Or just leave everything as it is, invest two more CP for the veritas vitae, and you can roll one more dice for every stratagem you use. With 18 CP you have a good chance of getting more CP back than the two you invested in the veritas vitae.

If you remove one captain from your BA batallion, and the two DC units, and get a third cheap elite unit (company champion, company ancient ?) you can get another vanguard detachment. But i guess you are limited to three detachments ?

Every turn until all the Blood Angels are dead I should be using Honor the Chapter. Nearly every turn I use some combination of Upon Wings of Fire, Descent of Angels, and Red Fury. This is on top of re-rolls and Stratagems for Deathwatch, although those are more situational. I also spend at least 1 on a Relic and 3 on Deep Strike for the Deathwatch (usually getting one back). So in most games I start with 15.

The true Smash Captain also has drawbacks in that he gives up Warlord very easily, a big deal in ITC Missions. Grand Strategist is also just better than the BA version. I expect it to get nerfed to at the very best a 6+ in the next FAQ, likely worse, but that won't be for a few months. If that happens the list may not even work anymore as is.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In light of the changes to Knights, and the update to Chaos for Knights, I'm expecting to see a lot more of them. With regards to that I think having a bigger DC unit that works as dedicated Knight hunters is viable.

This would change the following:

- Chainsword DC
- Infantry Squad
- 2 Infantry Squad Mortars
-1 Deathwatch Veteran

+ Two HWS with Mortars
+3 Death Company w/ Thunder Hammers

This keeps my unit count the same, which I like, and gives me the Mortars back to use the Commander with and screen him more easily. I also get a bigger Death Company unit that has a 50% chance to do 18 Damage to a Knight in one swing, without Captain Aura, and then should be able to finish it when swinging again even after casualties.

The bigger unit also helps against Necrons (Vaults), Guard (Baneblades), 'Nids (Kill a Flyrant in one go), Tau (Riptides without the 3++, possible with the 3++), etc.

You really should consider getting lemartes. With DC hitting on 4s with TH, enabling them to re-roll all failed hit rolls can be a game changer. Those can be the hits killing a knight.

Lemartes takes the Death Company, on the Charge, from doing 18 Wounds to a Knight as the average outcome (19%) to 24 Wounds as average (18%). Captain Aura would change to 21 Wounds as average (18%).

So with Lemartes I lose a heavy-hitter and go up to a 50/50 on killing a Knight without previously damaging it. This does not feel like a good trade to me, half the time I'll need to fight again anyways and Lemartes is not a contributor to the army. He costs the exact same as a Captain and buffs nothing else in the army unless I use DVoS, which is becoming rarer.

The much more viable package seems to b charging with a Captain as he absorbs the Overwatch well, then getting the DC in, and I essentially guarantee the model dies without having to fight twice. Now of course this assume delivery of two units which is tricky to do at times, essentially I'm relying on one already being on the board or being able to abuse verticality.

If Lemartes got me up to say a 75% chance to kill a Knight before it can swing and they became bigger in the meta I'd say it's more of an argument. But with the numbers and the likely game states I don't see how Lemartes is a worthwhile inclusion. Let me know your thoughts.

You have two units of DC, how about three TH for every unit, and sending both against the knight ? Lemartes lets you re-roll failed charge rolls on both units, and failed hit rolls on both units, if he makes the charge, he can also re-roll his failed charge, because he is DC too. After the angels wings captain charged, of course. Your DC units wont do much when they dont get into melee.

What advantage does that setup have over the one big unit though? If I send multiple units with a small amount of Hammers into the Knight then it can interrupt before I swing with 1-2 of the units. That would likely result in the death of one of the DC units as I will not have dropped a profile, 3's into 2's into 5's is bad news.

I'm working under the assumption that I lump sum one DC unit, this not only deals with Knights but other very common threats that previously I had no silver bullet for. I could answer it but there was a combination answer.

Having multiple DC units allows me to spread out more but with only a few Hammers they can't get into certain targets and need to fight twice, which is not something I want for them into some matchups.

Lemartes re-rolling Charges isn't that sexy, it leaves you on a 50/50 without Stratagems. That's quite risky for my taste unless it's a pure BA list and you have a lot of DC, then he shines. That's my main argument against including him, not that he's bad but that I have so little that benefits from him and lose more offensive power and flexibility than I gain.

The only thing I'd do is maybe add a Devastator squad somewhere:
Having a unit that can do 3d3 (2d3 after the first go) mortal wounds to the multitude of Custodes bike spam lists going around would do well to counter the current top list out there.

Yeah I may decide to add that, although I wouldn't agree they're the top army. Just a good army. They do not take a punch well and the bike unit is VERY expensive so I need to test and see if I can kill them with the Death Company and a Captain. Should be able to drop 3 on the Charge with one wound snuck on with shooting/psychic and then the counter-attack is pitiful.

Most people seem to be running a unit of 4-5 and a Shield-Captain. The three Captains with 1-2 Relics is harder on me as it provides more points to support with. Devastators help with both quite a bit though and are good into DE to boot.

 The Prince of Excess wrote:
Yeah I may decide to add that, although I wouldn't agree they're the top army. Just a good army. They do not take a punch well and the bike unit is VERY expensive so I need to test and see if I can kill them with the Death Company and a Captain. Should be able to drop 3 on the Charge with one wound snuck on with shooting/psychic and then the counter-attack is pitiful.

Most people seem to be running a unit of 4-5 and a Shield-Captain. The three Captains with 1-2 Relics is harder on me as it provides more points to support with. Devastators help with both quite a bit though and are good into DE to boot.

Eh, one bike unit in an army is reasonably easy to focus down but 3 units of bikes and 2-3 bike Captains is another story: their hurricane bolters can do some serious damage to your troops and a charge would cripple most of your squads but the real problem is their ability to outmanouver most peoples armies. Yes you could probably kill a unit on the charge with a Captain + Death Company but that's if they let you get the charge off. Have someone play a list like the one that won LGT against you and see how tough you think it is.

For my specific army the amount of Deep Strike I have is a major asset because the Custodes are all alpha strike. Alpha strike armies that don't get to hit first are usually not very happy. I'd certainly love to lab it though, I just don't think we have any local pure Custodes players.

Overall the super heavy Custodes armies haven't been doing well in the ITC for many reasons, that's the meta I play in and plan for.

 The Prince of Excess wrote:
What advantage does that setup have over the one big unit though? If I send multiple units with a small amount of Hammers into the Knight then it can interrupt before I swing with 1-2 of the units. That would likely result in the death of one of the DC units as I will not have dropped a profile, 3's into 2's into 5's is bad news.

Two chances of making the charge with a re-roll for each unit to make the charge ? Chances are good one unit makes it. What if you 5 model TH DC unit doesnt make the charge ? Then your only one knight killing unit is dead. What if your angels wings captain fails his charge ? You can only play descent of angels on one unit.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 The Prince of Excess wrote:
Yeah I may decide to add that, although I wouldn't agree they're the top army. Just a good army. They do not take a punch well and the bike unit is VERY expensive so I need to test and see if I can kill them with the Death Company and a Captain.

You are kidding, right ? A unit for 160 pts. with M14" FLY BS2+ WS2+ T6 W7 A5 2+ armor sv, 3+ invuln sv, 5+ FNP and on top of that the ability to re-roll a single hit, wound, or save roll per turn, plus command re-roll, cant take a punch very well ? He can re-roll 2 invuln svs per turn.

Hi I would alter your list like this.


AM Battalion

Commander
Psyker
Psyker

Infantry Squad - Mortar
Infantry Squad - Mortar
Infantry Squad - Mortar

Heavy Weapons team -x3 mortar
Heavy Weapons team -x3 mortar
Heavy Weapons team -x3 mortar

BA Battalion

Captain Hammer&SS
Captain Hammer&SS
Captain Hammer&SS

Scouts x5
Scouts x5
Scouts x5


Death Watch Battalion

Watch Captain- Jump Pack Hammer&storm Bolter
Watch Captain- Jump Pack Hammer&storm Bolter
Librarian- Jump Pack Staff(or sword)&Storm Bolter


Veterans
4 with Chainsword&Storm Bolter
2 with Storm Shield&Storm Bolter
1 Black Shield with Chain Sword&Storm Bolter
1 Terminator with Power Sword&Storm Bolter
1 Vangaurd Veteran with bolt pistol


Veterans
4 with Chainsword&Storm Bolter
2 with Storm Shield&Storm Bolter
1 Black Shield with Chain Sword&Storm Bolter
1 Terminator with Power Sword&Storm Bolter
1 Vangaurd Veteran with bolt pistol

Intercessors
4 Intercessors with Auto Bolt Rifles
1 Intercessor Sgt. with Auto Bolt Rifle, chain Sword, and Auxiliary grenade launcher
1 Inceptor with 2 plasma Exterminators
4 Aggressors with 2 Auto Boltstorm Gauntles&Fragstorm Grenade launcher

This should leave you at 1999~

I know you're cutting your squads to 9 for ITC scoring reasons and the intercessor squad conflicts with that, but I think it's worth at least testing out.

The way I set up the veteran squads is 28 more points than yours, but gives them immunity to moral, the ability to fall back and shoot (don't want to get charged and neutered by said eldar tanks), 2 3++ saves against any heavy AP weapons getting thrown at them, a 2+ armor save to tank light infantry fire on if you're not in cover. It's a lot more survival for a small cost and 3 less shots.

I put the librarian back in the list, it's not about null zone, it's about Psychic fortress keeping smites from punishing you, but you can have both so win/win.

Additionally I pumped the mortar teams up to a full set of 3. This is to help compensate for the loss of the DC, gives you a very annoying backfield presence for your commander to give rerolls.

The only thing I really see you struggling with is massed smites from daemon prince spam and Knights... Smite spam can usually be dealt with by volume of fire, knights you're going to be relying on your BA captains and the 2 DW ones to connect. Null zoning their invuln against ranged attacks also lets you soften them up nicely.

Below I'll be trying to sell you on an intercessor squad, completely ignore it if having a full strength unit isn't acceptable.

The intercessor squad will take on the chaff clearing role of the DC and be a major focus for your opponent. If the aggressors aren't dealt with They alone are going to shoot 104 times, rerolling 1s to hit & wound, can get +1 to wound on stratagems as well. The unit is T5 due to the split of models, can advance and fire at full BS if your opponent denies the aggressors to opportunity to stand still and shoot. They can't be dealt with by driving a tank into melee with them either, they will punch the gak out of the tank, fall back and keep shooting thanks to the inceptor. They're annoying as hell to charge and any eldar ( including dark eldar) have to consider that you could just pop a stratagem fire during their turn if they move to close. Babysit these guys with a watch master / captain at all times. They can kill 2 venoms a turn split firing, if they are stationary they can kill 2 ravagers in a turn, and that's not even their intended role.

Can you find the points to swap 2 veterans per unit with a vanguard veteran and a bike? It's 33 points for all 3 units, basically a HWS. Sure, you lose a storm bolter per unit (the vanguard will throw a grenade, if he's within range), but I feel the ability to shoot and charge after falling back may be worth it. Having models with a higher movement value could also help you getting off an assault in subsequent turns.

Also, have you considered swapping in a liutenant for a captain? You lose one attack, but rerolling 1s to wound should more than make up for that, especially near the Death Company unit. And it's 15 points cheaper.

Finally, I also vote for Lemartes. Those 3D6 charges still fail at times, it would suck to have that happen to your DC unit... I also assumed you were going to use DVoS on all your HQs anyway, just for the extra attack (you're swarming in CPs anyway, and you recycle them as well), this gives you other BA HQs some nice bonuses as well. As for the loss in effectiveness, rerolling all failed hits instead of rerolling 1s on the DC unit with 7 THs nets you 3.5 more hits on average, which more than make up for the reduced affectiveness of Lemartes over a Captain. And you reroll charges too...