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Hey guys, I'm fairly new to 40k and really wargaming as a whole, though I've been collecting minis as a hobby for quite some time. I'm looking for some advice on my new Deathwing project. I have been wanting to make a Deathwing army for years now and with the recent DV set and DA releases I think it's prime time to jump in. So, before I could over think things I popped out the credit card and made some purchases tonight. I bought 3 sets of the DV termies from ebay, 3 DA termie squads and a codex just to get started. I plan on reserving 1 of the DA termie boxes for converting up HQs (Belial, libby etc.) I also have 5 old AOBR termies sitting around that I bought a while back and never did anything with. So I'll be using extra bits from these sets to bring them into the DA fold.

Now what I'm seeking, if anyone could be so kind, is some advice on load-outs for these units. Whether it be HQs or troops builds or just advice for army additions or amendments, all input would be appreciated. And I am still learning the 6e rules so please forgive any stupid responses I may give you.

Thanks in advance!

Well, 3 DA Termie squads are a good start.
I'd go for a 4th unit which would allow you to build the following:
2x 10 Termies w/ assault cannon (x2), chain fist (x2).
Then you should include Belial so that DW Termies become troops.

 Beardbattered wrote:
Hey guys, I'm fairly new to 40k and really wargaming as a whole, though I've been collecting minis as a hobby for quite some time. I'm looking for some advice on my new Deathwing project. I have been wanting to make a Deathwing army for years now and with the recent DV set and DA releases I think it's prime time to jump in. So, before I could over think things I popped out the credit card and made some purchases tonight. I bought 3 sets of the DV termies from ebay, 3 DA termie squads and a codex just to get started. I plan on reserving 1 of the DA termie boxes for converting up HQs (Belial, libby etc.) I also have 5 old AOBR termies sitting around that I bought a while back and never did anything with. So I'll be using extra bits from these sets to bring them into the DA fold.

Now what I'm seeking, if anyone could be so kind, is some advice on load-outs for these units. Whether it be HQs or troops builds or just advice for army additions or amendments, all input would be appreciated. And I am still learning the 6e rules so please forgive any stupid responses I may give you.

Thanks in advance!

It really all depends on what you want out of the army. Deathwing are great because they enable you to combine regular and close combat termies in the same unit, which definitely increases their survivability in melee. Nice to lay down all that fire power and then have someone charge and get lit up by two lightning claw termies at initiative order instead of at initiative 1 with power fists. Since you can only have 2 HQ active at a time, you can put together 3 6 man DW squads. Be sure to add at least one lightning claw termie to each squad. You want that ability to fight at initative in melee at least a bit.

Also be sure to vary your heavy weapon kit outs. Assault cannons for light vehicles and anit-infantry, cyclone missile launcher for heavier vehicles and hordes and a heavy flamer for targets in cover.

Know that as a new player this army will be tough for you to play. An elite all terminator army suffers from a severe lack of flexibility and a severe lack of forgiveness. Place one unit in the wrong location and it is wasted points. Do something foolish and lose a unit too fast and you are in trouble. A DW force also is seriously lacking in AA ability, so if you go to the local store to check out the scene and see a lot of flyers on the tables you will need to add something like a nephilim or a unit of devastators with missile launchers and flakk missiles. Both are easily added, but do take away from the DW focus of the army.

As long as you go into with you eyes open you should still enjoy it. Some games you will dominate and others you will be wiped out to a man due to armies with way more guns getting lucky. Still a fun army to play no lie.

Skriker

Personally I would add a cyclone missile launcher or some of the new plasma cannons. Some land raiders for armored support are also a good option. It also depends on what you plan on facing and if you want a pure DW theme. If you are doing a pure DW army then traditionally it will just have terminators, dreads, and land raiders. However the new rules make it very attractive to bring in other DA elements into the army.

Another thing to think about, what is your play style like? By this I mean do you like go build a list and take on all comers no matter what or do you like to tailor your list depending on who you play against. Neither way is wrong, though the second way means investing a little more money for units to change out. Point size is also something to consider, small point games are hard for DW. My buds and I usually play around 4K, but that works for us and not all.

As a person who has played a DW army over 3 editions my recommendations would be to back plenty of fire power and look out for horde armies, nids & orks. As a small elite army you have to be careful about tangling with vast numbers of enemy models. Another thing to look out for is armies with a lot of low AP weapons, IG and DE, though these types of armies can very vulnerable to your shooting, and avoid getting into combat with incubi at all costs. DW is a great army to play and the new rules only make them better, you should have a lot of fun.
Check out the link in my sig for my DW army. It just keeps growing.

Thanks Baldrick...for some reason my brain completely forgot the plasma cannon terminator option now. Could be because I am still looking at all my existing deathwing termies at home which have 2 assault cannon, 1 heavy flamer and a cyclone for the heavy weapons across 4 squads. Maybe it is time to replace one of the assault cannon or maybe the heavy flamer. Hrm...

Skriker

To the OP Terminator Libby and a few TH/SS to spread around are musts. Other than that but the Deathwing box almost everything you could want is in there.

 Skriker wrote:
Thanks Baldrick...for some reason my brain completely forgot the plasma cannon terminator option now. Could be because I am still looking at all my existing deathwing termies at home which have 2 assault cannon, 1 heavy flamer and a cyclone for the heavy weapons across 4 squads. Maybe it is time to replace one of the assault cannon or maybe the heavy flamer. Hrm...

Skriker

The plasma cannon option gives us something we have never had before, long range low AP fire power. This can help us with pesky things like wraithguard and incubi

As another prospective DW player, my force will be pretty straight-forward, and look roughly like this (part of the list is dictated by the models I have from Space Hulk):

Belial

Librarian

5-man squad with a chainfist and assault cannon

5-man squad with a chainfist and assault cannon

5-man squad with one TH/SS and one Lightning Claws, Heavy Flamer

5-man squad made from Deathwing Command Squad. Unknown makeup. Will at least have a Plasma Cannon, a Chainfist, and probably a Lightning Claw Terminator.

Land Raider for transport and anti-tank

(Possible) Dreadnought with twin-lascannons for anti-tank

The other wild card I am thinking of adding in because I have one available is a single 5-man Scout Squad with Bolters and a Missile Launcher, as a reconnaissance squad that can also pick off a tank.

Thanks so much for all the advice guys, this helps out a lot.

I do plan on magnetizing all of my terminators, so none of my weapons choices are set in stone. I'm very seriously considering adding a dread to the mix. I'm not really sold on land raiders yet, it seems like an awful lot of points for what you're getting. Maybe you guys can enlighten me on what I'm missing.

What kind of thoughts do you guys have on the various fliers in a heavy terminator army? I don't really like the models but I have a few cool conversion ideas for a flier based on a toy that I found online.

Are Interrogator-Chaplains with terminator armor even worth considering when we have such great access to cheap librarians?

Unless you plan to deep strike your entire army Land Raiders are your only real option for quickly moving your terminators about.
Yes they are some what expensive but they tend to last a bit longer than conventional transports.

Plus they look intimidating.

Land Raiders, even only one of them, can add a big chunk of firepower to a Terminator army, which is always going to be small and elite. Other than the new Plasma Cannon for lighter vehicles, Terminators have absolutely no way of dealing with enemy tanks from range- they have to slog up to the thing and assault it.

So if you are holding yourself to only having Terminators in a force (like I am so far), it's either some smaller tanks (Vindicators/Predators), Land Raiders, or Dreadnoughts. And at least in my mind, Land Raiders are the only tanks that will look appropriate if a solely-Terminator force is being used to represent something like a Chapter's 1st Company troops, because of how the two are historically linked in 40K. Obviously, if you don't mind power armored troops in the army, that is where you will get cheaper firepower.

Plus they look intimidating.

Yup. You have to recognize that Land Raiders are something that will tend to capture your opponents' attentions more than your Terminators, perhaps buying them some valuable breathing room to do what they can, while your opponent thinks on ways to tank-bust the Land Raider.

Land raiders are a solid choice for a DW army. The are the only transport option for terminators, so it beats walking. A crusaider or prometheus can give much needed fire power when facing hordes like orks or nids. Regular land raiders can also provide much needed anti tank fire power against armour 14 things like leman russes or battle wagons. They are also good agains flyers, having 2 twin linked lascannons is good when you need 6's to hit plus lascannons should shred any flyers out there.

Land Raiders only make sense for Deathwing Knights..

The cost per model on scoring Termies is beyond prohibitive especially when given assault wargear, which is the only reason to put them in a Land Raider in this dex. They would underperform relative to C:SM Hammernators at this price. And none of this is reasonable considering that all the extra cost for DW Terminators is related to their Deepstriking abilities. They get twinlinked ranged weapons the turn they deep strike and they have several options for being scatterproof, one of which is contained on the SC that makes them scoring....

I see no reason to put scoring Termies in Land Raiders.

Maybe a Command Squad or a DWK, but for god's sake, deep strike the troops.

A Land raider can function just fine as a supporting vehicle, being a big square bullet magnet and functioning as part of the army's anti-tank weaponry. Doesn't even have to have a unit inside. Heck, if you are putting together a Heresy-Era force that plays as Deathwing, fluffwise back then they used Landraiders as much as battle-tanks with no troops in them (even fielded companies of them to take down high priority targets like Titans) as they did as "Terminator transports".

 AL-PiXeL01 wrote:
Unless you plan to deep strike your entire army Land Raiders are your only real option for quickly moving your terminators about.
Yes they are some what expensive but they tend to last a bit longer than conventional transports.

Plus they look intimidating.

Plus they have assault ramps...

Skriker

A dreadnought with two autocannons can be effective anti-flier I've heard, so consider taking that option if your trying a pure DW list to get some AA.

If you intend to deep strike, get a drop pod for a dreadnought to get some more anti tank. I'm thinking the MM/HF combo myself. Just don't expect it to live too long.

Ralis wrote:
A dreadnought with two autocannons can be effective anti-flier I've heard, so consider taking that option if your trying a pure DW list to get some AA.

If you intend to deep strike, get a drop pod for a dreadnought to get some more anti tank. I'm thinking the MM/HF combo myself. Just don't expect it to live too long.

Another option for DW AA is if you don't mind using forge world minis and picking up a contemptor mortis dreadnought with two assault cannons. If it doesn't move on its turn it gets the AA and interceptor rules for the rest of the turn. Dark Angels are one of the few Space Marine chapters who can take one as a heavy choice in their force. Details can be found in Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition.

Only caveat is that the assault cannot are a real pain in the neck to put together...currently working on one now for Dark Angels and the two ACs are driving me crazy.

Skriker


*edited because I apparently couldn't spell "neck" the first time around...

You have split fire so you can separate the heavy weapon from the rest of the squad. Not a big deal with plasma or flamer but assault cannons and definitely CML will be good with this. You can provide good cover and anti-tank fire without wasting all of your stormbolter fire.

Bottom line don't go nuts with TH/SS or Knights.

DAaddict wrote:
You have split fire so you can separate the heavy weapon from the rest of the squad. Not a big deal with plasma or flamer but assault cannons and definitely CML will be good with this. You can provide good cover and anti-tank fire without wasting all of your stormbolter fire.

Bottom line don't go nuts with TH/SS or Knights.

Individual units having split fire is just one of those aspects of the 40k rules that really annoy me. EVERY unit should have the split fire rule. No models in any unit should be forced to waste their fire or do nothing because the heavy or the regular troopers are shooting at targets the other is either overkill for or cannot even harm.

Skriker