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So I've never read a deathwatch kill team book but I know a bit of the fluff and think they're pretty badass. I'm currently in the venture of making my own kill team appropriately clad in black armor and silver left arm and deathwatch shoulder pad. The squad will be comprised of a dark angel, blood angel, space wolf, black templar, and ultramarine as Sergeant as it seems he would be the dick that demands to lead. I picked these chapters because plastic parts exist for each one so it would be easy. My only question is how do I equip them to wear it would be rather fluffy yet still combat effective. I intend to play them as fancy looking sternguard.

Any suggestions would be great from you deathwatch experts and fanatics.

I am a big fan of the Deathwatch and have two painted up. I work on them as a side project when I have spare parts.

Deathwatch tends to have those fancy helmets with lens and targeters. The Rhino crew's head is perfect for that. plenty of people should have spares laying around.

Something like this: http://www.bitzbox.co.uk/product_info.php/space-marine-vehicle-crew-head-p-1241?osCsid=5o1eu81l6p002c2ea2qs70po77

As for their fancy bolters you can either use regular bolters and maybe slap a sniper scope on top.

Or you could use Forge World's Ferrox Bolters
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Space_Marines/Space_Marine-Infantry-and-Accessories/SPACE_MARINE_BOLTER_UMBRA_FERROX_X10.html

Just a few suggestions I am throwing out there

I would try to get hold of a Stern Guard equipment sprue (or individual probably parts from a bits store).
It'll probably be cheaper to buy a Stern Guard box & sell the left-overs or stick them in your bits box.
You may even have enough bits left over to make another complete squad maybe having to use spare marine bits you may have.

Did you get this set:


http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440277a&prodId=prod1110206 or are you just making them from scratch?
If you do have this set I'd definitely grab some different heads, preferably all different. Also maybe consider mixing up the boltguns.

t really depends on what role you want them to perform but I see them as a fast-moving strike force.
Not sure what weapons are available but I would look at putting them in a rhino & going for combi-weapons & melta guns. Sergeant should have a power weapon too (IMHO) & melta bombs all round if possible for taking out vehicles.

I've got the bits on the way for the most part, and I have a good collection of the plastic deathwatch shoulders as well as plenty of sternguard weapons. I have everything I need to make them but I don't know what weapons to actually equip them with. They potentially might receive a black drop pod but will most likely be in a storm raven.

The targeting head I didn't think of that's a good point. And would a sword or power fist be more appropriate for slaughtering xenos?

You want to kill Xenos? Use a power maul.

As for what else to give them, a lot depends on the rest of your list (if you are concerned with tabletop performance)

Killing xenos was just the joke for the fluff, I'm just looking for a "fluffy" overall effective squad so I'm not just stuck with a squad who can contribute nothing to my army other then prettiness and I intend them to get into combat, not cc but being able to kill stuff and whatever the loadout, I can tailor the rest of my army to fit so the rest of the army is irrelevant. What 2 special weapons or heavy weapons or combination not only look good but will kill plenty. From my my searches, seems like heavy bolters are portrayed alot but Idk if that's best for a mobile spec is team.

Sternguard are pretty good for killteam.


Give the serg a melta bomb for anti-AV13+ and take 7 vets and your good to go.

I suggest giving Shrouded to the serg, so that he has better survivability.

Other 2 USR's are up to you, shred is nice on one guy so he can reroll failed wounds with vengence rounds for example.

Im not sure if armorbane stacks with kraken rounds anymore. Fleet might be good for one of em though.

For Xenos I would go for autocannon for the big guys or missle launcher if that's not an option. & a flamer for the horde-types with low toughness & light armour (you could also use the launcher to fire frags at them too). If you go for a launcher then flakk missiles might also be worth considering if you think the other guy might have flyers.
Don't know much about their special ammo or USRs you can choose though.

Killing xenos was just the joke for the fluff, I'm just looking for a "fluffy" overall effective squad so I'm not just stuck with a squad who can contribute nothing to my army other then prettiness and I intend them to get into combat, not cc but being able to kill stuff and whatever the loadout, I can tailor the rest of my army to fit so the rest of the army is irrelevant. What 2 special weapons or heavy weapons or combination not only look good but will kill plenty. From my my searches, seems like heavy bolters are portrayed alot but Idk if that's best for a mobile spec op team.

The deathwatch set is quite nice, though the bare heads have a few awkward bits of texture that aren't shown in the photo which makes painting them look a bit rougher than it should be.

As far as armament goes, the Templar should still have his tabard IMO, and be close combat orientated.
As Deathwatch are certainly hunters, after a fashion anyway, and as a Space Wolf is the epitome of a hunter - enhanced senses compared to even other astartes, I'd have him bare headed, though with a Space Wolves head rather than a Deathwatch one.

I think that the trick here will be to get as much individuality out of them without them looking too un unified. To me just a painted pad doesn't quite show the differences, it's in the posing, the little iconography that's etched into the amour and the fetishes (in the Space Wolves' case) and extra accruements that they have on their armour that do it for me.

I can't comment on the gaming side, however, as I've never played properly, to me it's the character that matters, I'm happy to get trounced as long as I look good doing it, and there's a definite character to my models, rather than just a power list.

Deathwatch are best represented either by Sternguard or Vanguard. In the role-playing game, there's no need for them to all be shooty or all be melee like there would be in regular 40k, but alack that's what you're stuck with for use in regular games.

I'd think about giving them all character first, then figuring out how to utilize them on the table second. If you want the Ultramarine to represent the Sgt., I actually think a Power Maul would be really fitting. Make it a Power Scepter, which he uses because he fancies himself a pontiff. The Dark Angels guy, he might be kind of difficult without going to a bits seller to pick up one of the robed bodies. Dark Angels in the Deathwatch still wear the robes that signifies the chapter. Also, I'd think about giving him a combi-plasma. Doubt it'd be totally worth that in a kill team game but it'd be so fluffy.

Model wise I will be using a space wolf grey hunters, Dark angels veteran, blood angel death company (mostly), a tactical marine with templar tabard shoulder and helmet, and for the ultramarine a tactical marine with sternguard bits and that roman-esque leather strip tabard from the captain kit. Is a staff very ultramarine though? And I was thinking plasma rifle for dark angel dude. I could mix them range and cc wise if I use them as company vets for dark angels. But I like the idea of special ammo and for use in that deathwatch formation from the Damnos book.

 SRSFACE wrote:
Deathwatch are best represented either by Sternguard or Vanguard. In the role-playing game, there's no need for them to all be shooty or all be melee like there would be in regular 40k, but alack that's what you're stuck with for use in regular games.

I'd think about giving them all character first, then figuring out how to utilize them on the table second. If you want the Ultramarine to represent the Sgt., I actually think a Power Maul would be really fitting. Make it a Power Scepter, which he uses because he fancies himself a pontiff. The Dark Angels guy, he might be kind of difficult without going to a bits seller to pick up one of the robed bodies. Dark Angels in the Deathwatch still wear the robes that signifies the chapter. Also, I'd think about giving him a combi-plasma. Doubt it'd be totally worth that in a kill team game but it'd be so fluffy.

Really it would be worth it in killteam, and a great way to keep it fluffy.

So something like this for pure KillTeam play:( too bad you now half to purchase full squads, I liked the previous rules better in that regard)
Ultra: Power weapon, combi-flamer
Blood Angel: heavy flamer, combi-grav
Space Wolf: Combi-grav, USR Preferred enemy(Guerrilla)
Templar: USR Crusader, combi Flamer (indomitable)
Dark Angel: Plasma gun, USR Mastercrafted PG(Weapon Specialist), Bolter

Nice thing about Sternguard, the heavy and special weapon guys don't give up the Bolters. And that is 200 points, I would be tempted to make the Blood Angel a Salamander and go Hvy flamer + combi melta.

I think I'd switch the combi-flamer there for combi-melta. I really don't like combi-flamers because just taking a flamer is 5 points and a heavy flamer is 10, so paying for a one-use-only thing that's normally just a 5 point weapon when I have access to bigger and better things for the same points just seems wasteful to me.

Plus, it'd give a pretty solid one-hit KO chance against any rhinos someone might think to bring.

I actually have a kill team squad already so this is just intended to be a fancy sternguard squad. Salamanders are cool but plastic bits don't exist. I'm trying to ease the modeling process by giving each guy a distinct look easily with kits that exist and the no helmet thing on the Wolf makes sense but I'm terrible at faces and why would you not want a helmet when the entire galaxy is at war?

OK, I’m confused. We talking about the 200 point mini-game kill team? Or just a kill team of deathwatch in a larger game? Because what gear to give them will change dramatically depending on what we are talking about.

For (normal 40k) sternguard in a drop pod, you are going to want 2-3 combi-meltas, and a HF or two. And a full 10 man squad by preference. If you want a CC weapon on the sarge, go with a lighting claw. Very few weapons are worth taking the special ammo bolters away from them. And at 10 points a pop, I think combi weapons are too pricy to give everyone.

If you want to look cool and be a little more fluffly, you can change things up a bit. Give the DA a c-plas. Not worth the points IMHO, but not useless.
The Wolf can just be a stock sternguard with a bolter. Give him a combat knife in his off hand for looks.
Same could be said for the BT and BA. Although if someone was going to get the nod for a c-melta, I’d give it to the BA.
Paint up a Salamander for the HF marine. The only iconography he needs is the huge flamethrower!

HBs are cool looking, and iconic for deathwatch, but are not worth handing out to sternguard.

Yes they are intended for nice looking squad for larger games. Most likely they will stay a 5 man squad just because getting the parts is pain in the ass. Plus I'm wanting each marine to be an individual and not just a painted shoulder pad so no marine chapters that don't have plastic bits.

There's also a pad in the new tactical box that looks like the Aurora chapter badge, if you wanted to add a little more variety.

I've found an ultramarine pad from the captain box so that will be the only one there is no distinct kit for but sternguard bits will work for him and the leather strip looking tabard. Does a deathwatch Sergeant have anything else other then his loadout to denote him as Sergeant such as a different colored helmet or whatnot?