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In case where Grey Knights are not around or unavailable do the Deathwatch have the Mandate to extermindate Daemons as well?

In terms of rarity... Deathwatch are more common than Grey Knights right? And in 7th edition Grey Knights have nothing in the rules that advantages them in fighting Daemons anyway right?

Doesn't Xenos basically mean anything alien? Or even semi-alien?

The Deathwatch will face daemons if they happen to come across them. But their pre-planned mission objectives will rarely involve objectives that might have daemonic influences. It doesn't mean it's impossible, and if they really are the closest Imperial force in the area (such as in the Jericho Reach) then yes, they will fight. But that is an exceptional case.

I would imagine they can, and have before, but it's not their mission. If they can find some way to send the Grey Knights, they will before they send in Deathwatch

Deathwatch is made up of experienced Space Marines from different chapters, with the exception of the Grey Knight sooks Space Marines aren't particularly fussy about what they get sent to fight.

It's tempting to imagine the Dethwatch are bound by Byzantine union rules, and refuse to fight daemons in order to avoid bitter demarcation disputes with the Grey Knights.

So if the cult in DW: Overkill had turned out to be Choas worshippers, they'd just have packed up and gone home, insisting it was more than their jobs' worth to get involved.

Being serious, the background is littered with examples of the Ordo Xenos (e.g. Eisenhorn, Ravenor and Amberley Vail) combatting daemons and heretics. There's no good reason to think the Deathwatch would shirk the task of purging the galaxy of any of mankind's enemies.

 TheLumberJack wrote:
I would imagine they can, and have before, but it's not their mission. If they can find some way to send the Grey Knights, they will before they send in Deathwatch

Can't send for the greyknights - and if you meet them - it's gonna be a bad day for you regardless of whether you are a daemon or a space marine.

I thought that Death Watch teams were generally assembled for a specific mission/campaign. In that instance the likely overlap would be small, only if the xenos were utilising demons would they likely face them.

Ultimately though, they are space marines first, and will fight any enemy of mankind they come across.

Its not there speciality but there perfectly willing to fight heratics, deamons, traitors or any one else who gets in the way.

There still veteran marines, between a full kill team be hard to find a enemy they not at least one member faced.

If the Deathwatch RPG is anything to go by, they do.

Their focus is on Xenos, but that's mostly because they're the most pressing and overt threat where they're stationed. If a Watch-Station gets wind there's a Daemon incursion on a nearby world they're not going to twiddle their thumbs and go "not our problem" unless say... the Grey Knights told them to stay out of it.

 Arbitrator wrote:
If the Deathwatch RPG is anything to go by, they do.

Their focus is on Xenos, but that's mostly because they're the most pressing and overt threat where they're stationed. If a Watch-Station gets wind there's a Daemon incursion on a nearby world they're not going to twiddle their thumbs and go "not our problem" unless say... the Grey Knights told them to stay out of it.

They're both part of the inquisition but do the Deathwatch actually know about the Grey Knights?
I can't imagine any ranked Space Marine taking orders from a chapter that doesn't exist.

Hah, that suggests a rather puzzled conversation between a planetary governor and a Deathwatch Astartes:

Governor: So, you're saying that you won't fight these horrible beings that are ravaging my world?

Astartes: Correct. See, down at the bottom of the form you've ticked 'Deathwatch'. We're only for aliens. If you wanted someone to fight Daemons, you should have ticked the 'Grey Knights' or 'Generic Witch-hunters' boxes. If you'd bothered to read appendix 22b, you'd see that the Deathwatch are specifically for fighting Xenos. There's even a 'handy guide' for identifying which incursion is which.

Governor: ...but...but...you've spent 6 months in the warp getting here! Now that you're here, won't you help us?!

Astartes: I know. It's mistakes like this that cost the Imperium time and resources. Be thankful that we don't report you to the nearest Commissar. Good day, governor.

One of the more recent Deathwatch short stories depicted them fighting against xenos that worshiped Slaanesh. There were no daemons present in that story, but that's a good example of how it could happen.

 Dakka Wolf wrote:
They're both part of the inquisition but do the Deathwatch actually know about the Grey Knights?
I can't imagine any ranked Space Marine taking orders from a chapter that doesn't exist.

When the story calls for it, everyone seems to know about the Grey Knights.

Or how about Eldar are on planet killing people, Deathwatch comes in to stop them. The people they were killing where chaos cultists trying to summon demons and since Eldar just got interrupted they succeed.

Miradorm wrote:
Or how about Eldar are on planet killing people, Deathwatch comes in to stop them. The people they were killing where chaos cultists trying to summon demons and since Eldar just got interrupted they succeed.

That's an 'I'm not telling the captain, we better sort this before he finds out' situation.

They don't intentionally seek out Daemons the way the GK do, but if they happen to be nearby and a distress call goes out saying "We're being murdered by strange blue blob creatures and funny red people with tall heads and giant tongues!" the Deathwatch isn't going to say "Not our area of expertise, move on."

Sure they will end up fighting daemons. Your average imperial planet doesnt know the difference between daemons and some of the more exotic alien invaders. Probably know Orkz, renegade humans, and then 'other' but daemons can end up looking like Necrons or Tyranids, neither of which are very well known in the imperium.

The deathwatch might end up fighting daemons, but they are probably not much better at it than regular space marines. Possibly even a little worse due to over confidence in fighting aliens.

 Ynneadwraith wrote:
Hah, that suggests a rather puzzled conversation between a planetary governor and a Deathwatch Astartes:

Governor: So, you're saying that you won't fight these horrible beings that are ravaging my world?

Astartes: Correct. See, down at the bottom of the form you've ticked 'Deathwatch'. We're only for aliens. If you wanted someone to fight Daemons, you should have ticked the 'Grey Knights' or 'Generic Witch-hunters' boxes. If you'd bothered to read appendix 22b, you'd see that the Deathwatch are specifically for fighting Xenos. There's even a 'handy guide' for identifying which incursion is which.

Governor: ...but...but...you've spent 6 months in the warp getting here! Now that you're here, won't you help us?!

Astartes: I know. It's mistakes like this that cost the Imperium time and resources. Be thankful that we don't report you to the nearest Commissar. Good day, governor.

Love it.
Diplomacy - the ability to tell people to " Go to Hell" in such a way it makes them look forward to the trip.

Thanks man love that quote about diplomacy. Must try and remember that

In the Grey Knights codex, for one fluff battle the Grey Knights were simply travelling along (returning home after a successful daemon purging mission, if I recall correctly) when a planet coincidentally gave out a distress call from an Ork invasion. The Grey Knights stopped by, killed the orks, and then continued on their way. By the time actual normal space marines arrived to answer the distress call, the citizens were eagerly bubbling about their "silver saviors". (they don't need to be mind wiped in cases like those, it seems, which is reasonable. After all, for all they know, they were just saved by a bunch of loyalist Space Marines who didn't talk much)

If the Grey Knights are willing to stop by and kill an enemy of mankind even though it's not their mission, I don't see why the Deathwatch wouldn't do the same. Of course, they each try to prioritize but in the end an enemy of mankind is an enemy of mankind and must be purged.

jareddm wrote:
The Deathwatch will face daemons if they happen to come across them. But their pre-planned mission objectives will rarely involve objectives that might have daemonic influences. It doesn't mean it's impossible, and if they really are the closest Imperial force in the area (such as in the Jericho Reach) then yes, they will fight. But that is an exceptional case.

This pretty much. They can and they will, but it's not what they're set up for.

Xenos can summon Daemons, so it isn't like the Deathwatch aren't going to know what to do if faced with a Daemonic threat. Sure, it isn't their bread-and-butter, but it isn't like they are going to retreat if a Daemon pops up.

Daemons aren't why they came travelling to come deal with but if it's Daemons that show up being the problem then they will still deal with it and no doubt send a message to whichever Inquisitor sent them there in the first place. They are all still the same Space Marines we all know and are selected from all the chapter's in the Imperium (except one I think).

Deathwatch: The Last Guardian

Deathwatch would fight Daemons much the same way any other Space Marine Chapter would. I doubt they would be dispatched specifically fight daemons, but if the need arose I doubt they would back down.