Dakka Veteran
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Greetings folks,
So I had what I thought of as a fun army idea that I probably won't do anything with, but hey: I figured it would be kinda cool to talk about and see what people thought.
You remember the old "Legion of the Damned" models that existed for a while in 40k?
When I first got into the hobby, I remember seeing them and thinking they were quite cool. I liked their special rules even better. As time went on I saw
new rules, new models, ect. Eventually there was even a army list in White Dwarf (at least, I think there was!)
That got me to thinking about them today, in the current edition. Obviously, they don't exist anymore... but how can we MAKE them exist anyway?
So a few things I remember about them:
1. Largely power armored, standard space marines. Usually they had archaic looking armor, lots of skulls, lots of black, that sort of thing.
2. A 3++ Save, representing their partial ghostly nature or other shenanigans.
3. Lots of special weapons. LOTS of special weapons. A few heavy weapons, but LOTS of special weapons.
4. Bolters that did a lot of fun stuff. They had AP, they could ignore cover, ect.
5. Deep strike. Lots of deep strike.
That got me thinking... what space marine army exists right now that can pretty much approximate those same rules? DEATHWATCH, that's who! (Even the name is kinda
similar). So, with that in mind, thus was born the idea for a proxy army using deathwatch rules but very strict guidelines.
HQ:
-pick either a Captain with stormshield + X, primaris captain with master crafted power sword + relic shield, or primaris LT with pistol, blade, and shield.
-Any of these picks should NOT be modeled with an actual shield. Instead, have them holding the other portions of their gear (pistol and sword, captain can just have
a bolter, ect)
Troops:
-exclusively Deathwatch Vets or proteus kill team.
-Every model in the unit MUST carry a storm shield. It's not quite 3++, but 2+ and 4++ is close enough. Also, with the exception of dedicated close combat dudes, do NOT put the stormshield on the actual model. That's part of the point, you know?
-Use either combi weapons, special weapons, or the deathwatch special ammunition bolter. Close combat options can be taken as well, provided the storm shield is there.
-The bolter, in particular, works well as an approximation for the legion's special bolter rules.
-I would personally model them with a 3rd party skull helmet (Puppetswar makes some really good ones) and use either
chaos marines or the old mark 3 space marine armor for the vets. Also: lots of gothy bits. The more the better!
Elites:
-Bladeguard veterans, again modeled without shields and wielding the pistol and sword. You can use the actual models if you like, or perhaps some
old horus-heresy terminators with swords and pistols instead of their usual armament.
-Terminator squads of all flavors work fine, honestly they are close enough IMO.
-Vanguard vet squads: okay, here is a weird take that I think is probably the most controversial part of the list. Obviously, in keeping with the theme, they have to have storm shields. Weirder though, is the idea of using converted Age of Sigmar Nighthaunts as vanguard vet proxies! That probably sounds bizarre, but think about it: in AoS they already have a 4++ save, they are already modeled as flying (so jump packs are mandatory), and you can use some 40k style bits to give them power swords, hammers, or whatever else you would like. They also already basically deep-strike, so they fit with the theme quite nicely!
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Right now that's pretty much the idea, though I am super interested if anyone else has other ideas to add to this. Obviously, some other aspects of the Deathwatch codex could be included (like dreads) without too much difference, rules/fluff wise. Like I said at the top: I'm not super invested in the idea, and I doubt very much that I will ever do anything with it... but it seems neat, and I was thinking about it today for quite a while during a really boring zoom call.
So what are your thoughts? Obviously, it's probably not very competitive. Obviously, it would require a LOT of investment to get working right... But as far as "rule of cool" goes... well, there are certainly worse ideas out there!
Thanks for reading!
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