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I know that the deathwatch is recruited from all over and are often fielded in kill teams but is there technically anything stopping the deathwatch from fielding like in company strength with armor and such?

Do they ever get scouts promoted to the deathwatch?

Is it too crazy to make fluff of them deploying marines and equipment in chapter strength for very large incursions?

it would be doubtful. Deathwatch is like Delta Force, small unit tactics. Tanks are.out of the question. Scouts would also be seriously doubtful.

I'm sure I read about a deathwatch dreadnought somewhere in a short story - everything else I've ever read deals with single squads of DW, so I'd assume that to be the normal MO.

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
it would be doubtful. Deathwatch is like Delta Force, small unit tactics. Tanks are.out of the question. Scouts would also be seriously doubtful.

technically they said the same thing about GK in the past and now look at 'em lol. Anyways, was reading the somewhat awful novel from a few years past by the writer that shall not be named with wave serpent surfing dark reapers so it kind of got my interest in finally painting all of my mismatched space marines that have accumulated over the years.

I figured I can do a simple black and do the left arm in silver. I'd probably have to have them all as black shields as I'm kind of too lazy to paint every right shoulder differently till much later (when I can make a stencil for the ordo xenos icon on the left shoulder anyway)

Wanted to know if this kind of thing could happen in larger strength than kill teams since none of the books even by fantasy flight really seem to address this kind of thing.

that would imply that the Deathwatch, while it may be large, wouldn't field large units on the field. They are all about infiltration and surgical strikes, not massed combat.

I imagine the Deathwatch do have scouts, but they aren't noobs and are vets who re-don the scout armour for practicality purposes.

In the grand scheme of things, one kill team cannot do a lot in some instances - it may require multiple objectives to be taken at the same time, so I imagine multiple kill team would be deployed for certain operations though rarely would it require such a valuable/lethal force. As for supporting units. Not so much Preds and Vindis, more like Land Raiders though as they would obviously use them for transport. Land Speeders and the like as well, rapid response units to get them out of a bind, not so much full on going to war mode though, Maybe Storm Ravens and the like, as well as Thunderhawks obviously.

They definitely had multiple thunderhawks in the black library book as well as drop pods. Heck their techmarine hooked a chair up for a human inquisitor to sit in on one. They also had at least one rhino and some razorbacks in different novels where they make an appearance like in Tarsus Ultra when Uriel Ventris took a ride on the roof of one.

I think they did have a land speeder as well in another book but I can't remember which one. Stuff like storm ravens would definitely be good to go and probably be fine with storm talons.

Just looked it up and they do have dreadnaughts with 2 of them named in the lore:

Chyron who used to be with the lamenters (one of the few survivors that didn't go with the original chapter)
and
Sobczak who used to be a techmarine for the imperial fists.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Szobczak#.UgoWaJ2mo6Y

apparently they mentioned scouts as well though I've never actually read anything about deathwatch scouts but I guess they can get that at least.

It depends on what Deathwatch you're talking about.

GW's version is small, elite squads of up to 10 Deathwatch Space Marines in power armour, led by an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor, a Deathwatch Captain, or sometimes a Deathwatch Librarian.

There now exists a markedly different version in one of FFG's 40k RPGs, however, which has the whole shebang of Scouts, Terminators, even tanks and flyers and Dreadnoughts. They've got their own Exterminatus-equipped starship fleets and bases, a notably different organisation (Captains are base commanders, leadership of teams in the field switches between squad members on ad-hoc basis), and they are merely an ally of the Ordo Xenos instead of a firmly integrated part.

And then you probably have various Black Library novels that could depict anything in-between.

It really comes down to what you as the individual gamer want the Deathwatch to be. Personally, I prefer the "small squads" bit and think that for a full Chapter I might just as well do Vanilla Space Marines and simply give them an anti-xenos focus. But that's just me, and this being 40k means that it's up to everyone themselves.

My RPG group's wiki has some links to the original GW fluff, if anyone's interested.
Alternatively, check FFG's website for some bits about their version of the Deathwatch. I believe they are offering a couple PDFs to download for free, too.

Personally, I'd be inclined to say that they have at least Land Speeders for fast recon purposes and Stormravens for rapid redeployment once they're planetside.

At the end of the day though, they are all about the Elite Strike Force tactics, so they probably don't use much in the way of mechanical support. I kind of imagine that if the Inquisition wants something squished on a larger scale, they can call in the GK, SoB, or a rather large force of Inquisitoral Stormtroopers.

Or other Space Marines, the Imperial Guard, Titan Legions, ...

The Land Speeder bit is an interesting thought. I never considered it, but I could see it make sense, unless the Inquisition uses other assets for reconnaisance.
In my RPG, we just had the Ordo Xenos attach an Inquisitorial Thunderhawk to our kill-team, piloted and maintained by Navy personnel.

Unfortunately, GW's sources don't talk one bit about such support details, so it's either looking to one of the outsourced books or making stuff up yourself (if one were to prefer GW fluff in the first place - FFG's material, whilst at places notably different from the original fluff, is also much more detailed and extensive).

Indeed, if we go from The RPG, then I believe they have access to Techmarines. A Techmarine is going to go spare if all he has to look after is small arms weaponry and the occasional big gun. Someone get that guy a tank!

Which would lead to an inference that they have something resembling support vehicles.

At best the Deathwatch might field something in the area of 40-60 marines from one of their keep but nothing really above that or that requires too much logistics to transport such as titans.

Yeah, those Keeps are an idea from FFG as well. The original WD article mentioned the teams to be attached to Inquisitorial facilities - an example being the fortress on Talasa Prime, "servicing" the entire Eastern Fringe of Segmentum Ultima.

Deathwatch have a number of differing marines, and some dreadnoughts (either interned there as a black shield, or brought on for some knowledge).

However, its stands with reason that scouts can be seconded to the deathwatch if situation calls for it. A company such as the raven guard, or SW scouts (who are full marines) may have some knowledge about tactics vs some hated xeno.

Alternatively, you can represent the scouts as elite henchmen from a ordo xenos inquisitor. The scouts profile would be well suited to a unit of hardened covert op's brought from some battled world.

If you're referring to FFG's Dreadnought-Deathwatch, then the Marines are their own Scouts - simply by switching their power armour with scout armour. "Real" Scouts are not amongst the selectable classes, though. Unless they changed this with a later supplement? I admit I've only ever seen the core rulebook ...


And obviously, nothing in this thread should be treated as some sort of gospel. To reiterate: OP, feel free to cherrypick whatever you like - either based on personal preferences, or because you prefer one source over another.

 sudojoe wrote:
I know that the deathwatch is recruited from all over and are often fielded in kill teams but is there technically anything stopping the deathwatch from fielding like in company strength with armor and such?

Do they ever get scouts promoted to the deathwatch?

Is it too crazy to make fluff of them deploying marines and equipment in chapter strength for very large incursions?

One of the early Inquistor novells had whole company of Deathwatch and inferred they were at near chapter strength.

If I ever started GK's I'd paint em ALL like deathwatch!

From what I have read, death watch is deployed generally in kill teams, however, i remember reading somewhere (probably lexicanum or a codex) that the deathwatch could field company-strength kill-teams, but that this was an incredibly rare event, since there is rarely an undertaking of that magnitutde that couldnt be better handled by a larger more generalized organization.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also to be on Deathwatch is not a promotion, its a duty rotation based on the needs of the organization and the ordo's relationship with each individual chapter. For instance, some chapters send almost no marines to the deathwatch, whilst others, such as the Crimson fists, send so many members that their brother chapters call them lapdogs.

So, no scouts do not get promoted to deathwatch, althought it is possible they could be transferred or rotated to it.

 Lynata wrote:
If you're referring to FFG's Dreadnought-Deathwatch, then the Marines are their own Scouts - simply by switching their power armour with scout armour. "Real" Scouts are not amongst the selectable classes, though. Unless they changed this with a later supplement? I admit I've only ever seen the core rulebook ...


And obviously, nothing in this thread should be treated as some sort of gospel. To reiterate: OP, feel free to cherrypick whatever you like - either based on personal preferences, or because you prefer one source over another.

There are wolf scouts in the First Founding Book, and in the Honor of the Chapter there a artwork of a raptors chapter Scouts. Probably he is a full brother that prefer scout duty.

OlGreye wrote:From what I have read, death watch is deployed generally in kill teams, however, i remember reading somewhere (probably lexicanum or a codex) that the deathwatch could field company-strength kill-teams

That sounds like Lexicanum's usual attempt at combining sources that werennever intended to tie into each other. The company-strength bit is probably from FFG's RPG or a novel - all of GW's own articles I have ever seen on the subject mention only the team leader (Inquisitor, DW Captain or DW Librarian) and 4-9 DW Space Marines.

livanbard wrote:There are wolf scouts in the First Founding Book, and in the Honor of the Chapter there a artwork of a raptors chapter Scouts. Probably he is a full brother that prefer scout duty.

I stand corrected, then!

Was the scout in DOW not a former DW member.

 gianlucafiorentini123 wrote:
Was the scout in DOW not a former DW member.

Cryus was a Deathwatch member. Bingo.

Cyrus is a full battle-brother though, he has just chosen to be a scout sergeant.

Yeah, Cyrus is not a Scout. He is a Space Marine Battle-Brother Sergeant that trains the Scouts of the Blood Ravens.