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Hey all,

Posting my latest pure Deathwatch list here to see if I can get some feedback. I've had experience against a varied amount of opponents and lists now, and my army has evolved to the following:

H Q
Watch Master, WT: Lord of Hidden Knowledge
Watch Captain with Jump Pack , Thunderhammer, Storm Shield, SIA Bolt Pistol, Relic: The Beacon Angelis
Librarian with Jump Pack, Force Stave, SIA Bolt Pistol, Powers: mostly Null Zone, Might of Heroes

TROOPS
Fortis Squad Forti Solis
5 Intercessors, 3 SIA Auto Bolt Rifle, 2 SIA Bolt Rifle, 5 SIA Bolt Pistol
4 Aggressor, 4 Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets, 4 Fragstorm Grenade Launcher
1 Inceptor, 2 Assault Bolter

Fortis Squad Lux Vincit
5 Intercessors, 5 SIA Auto Bolt Rifle, 5 SIA Bolt Pistol
4 Aggressor, 4 Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets, 4 Fragstorm Grenade Launcher
1 Inceptor, Assault Bolter

Fortis Squad Obscuritas Emundo
5 Intercessors, 5 SIA Bolt Rifle, 5 SIA Bolt Pistol
1 Aggressor, Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets, Fragstorm Grenade Launcher

Furor Squad Tempestus Metallicus
7 Deathwatch Veterans, 5 Storm Bolter, 4 Chainswords, 1 Storm Shield, 1 Deathwatch Shotgun,1 Deathwatch Frag Cannon
1 Vanguard Veteran, Chainsword, SIA Bolt Pistol

Furor Squad Viator Abditus
5 Deathwatch Veterans, 3 Stalker Patern Boltgun, 2 Heavy Bolter

FAST
Biker Squad Fulmen Gravis
3 Bikers, 3 SIA Twin Boltgun, 2 Chainsword, Storm Shield, SIA Storm Bolter, Deathwatch Teleport Homer

Biker Squad Vulnus Letalis
3 Bikers, 3 SIA Twin Boltgun, 2 Chainsword, Storm Shield, SIA Storm Bolter, Deathwatch Teleport Homer

ELITE
Redemptor Dreadnought Gigas Armis
Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon, Onslaught Gatling Cannon, 2 Storm Bolters, Redemptor Fist

HEAVY
Hellblaster Squad Arx Illud
6 Hellblasters, 6 Plasma Incinerator, 6 SIA Bolt Pistol

Points: 2000
Models: 55
Units: 12
CP: 8

The list has a massive abundance in midrange anti-infantry shooting on relatively mobile, relatively sturdy squads. In my experience this can put a severe dent into enemy non-tank critical units. For instance I've deleted a full squad of buffed Skyweavers and a squad of Shining spears in turn one and two big squads of Custodies bikers an other time. Horde armies of course face a difficult pairing as well.

I realise I'm light on anti-tank fire. The tactic to dealing with armour (that lone Castellan/ those Leman Russes) would be the following: turn 1 the Agressor units and bikes will remove as much screening units as possible (one Agressor Unit using the Beacon slingshot to get into range of targets further away). Turn 2 the Hellblasters deepstrike with the Redemptor. Shooting may weaken the armored target, but most of the damage would then need to be done by either the Redemptor charging (with Might of Heroes) or remaining Agressors and Smash captain into Close combat.

The real challenge is making due with a shortage of Command Points. I start with 8 and will often use 2-3 on Teleport-strategems. The remaining CP's will in my experience mostly be used on ~1 Auspex Scan/Intercepting volley, 1-2 well placed Doctrines and ~1-2 Command Re-rolls/Helfire Shell/Wisdom of the Ancients. With the Warlord trait there is one more semi-Command re-roll and possibly 1 bonus CP to use later on. Could I use more CP's? Sure, but I really don't want to use the loyal 32 (partly because I expect this option to be nerfed anyway). And more DW battalions would mean spending more points on HQ's with is too much bloat IMO. I used an Inquisition Vanguard Detachment in stead of the Librarian, but I feel the Synergy the Librarian adds is more important than 1 more CP.

General tactics would further revolve around taking centre field with the Fortis Squads backed up by Warmaster rerolls. Objective grabbing would be up to the Veteran squads and the Bikes. The fact that the most significant squads have scary overwatch and can fallback and still be effective some way is a big factor to possible succes.

Scary opponents would (obviously) be Ravager heavy Drukhari, Imperial Knights, Dark Reaper/Shining spear Eldar, etc. But these lists cause everyone headaches, that's why they're the common tournament lists.

Any thoughts? Things I've missed? Tactics and lists to use against this?

Cheers, Cilithan

Well first of all the multi-coloured text looks ridiculous. Your main issue is, like you said, anti-armour. At 2k my list has 5x Russes and a Valdor, as well as plenty of screening Guardsmen. You could kill 1, maybe 2 Russes with shooting but the rest is going to bite back hard.

 Valkyrie wrote:
Well first of all the multi-coloured text looks ridiculous. Your main issue is, like you said, anti-armour. At 2k my list has 5x Russes and a Valdor, as well as plenty of screening Guardsmen. You could kill 1, maybe 2 Russes with shooting but the rest is going to bite back hard.

Several screened Leman Russes is often a big problem if the army is not designed accordingly.
Primaris heavy armies usually lack anti-tank. Big issue.

Redemptor dreadnoughts are pretty useless :/ Cool model with cool weapons but it just doesn't perform. I would drop it to bring more hellblasters spread throughout your other troop squads

Put 3 bikers with 5 Vets and 2 VanVets/SS and then combat squad them during the deployment. This way you will have 6 troup units. Get another HQ and you have 2 BT. I also think your dreads won't perform well. DW is already dakka oriented, and redemptors don't add anything special to DW. Maybe 2 Venerables and a captain /SS + relic Dominus Aegis would help more.