Deathwatch and Shadow Wars

[Kastor Krieg]

Shadow War has been released, but I can't seem to see any mention of rules for Deathwatch marines. Anyone got any news or info?

A single Deathwatch can be a support model for a single game per 1 promethium cache cost for the SM Scouts faction. That's it.

No. There's special Ops available to Marines that are Deathwatch but that's it.

 

I went to their Facebook and asked them to add them in an upcoming release. I'd advise the same thing if you want a chance at seeing them as a playable faction in Shadow Wars.

TBH, I hope they don't. The last thing this scale of a game needs is an abundance of power armour.

[Boyadventurer]

No word yet besides the one special op that scouts can take. Though GW has promised more teams on the way and we know rules for Sisters and Inq are incoming so maybe there's hope.

We've got 3 schools of thought going on in another thread.
1) Scouts as Kill Marines, pretty easy translation.
2) GK counts as can bring DW style firepower (storm bolters, psycannons, etc)
3) Chaos counts as works the best for the team I want to build. A MoK Champ makes a good Blackshield, and you get access to some of the special gear (camo cloaks, etc) that GKs can't get, so I can easily run a geared out sniper.

[Prot]

 

Shadow War has been released, but I can't seem to see any mention of rules for Deathwatch marines. Anyone got any news or info?

A single Deathwatch can be a support model for a single game per 1 promethium cache cost for the SM Scouts faction. That's it.

No. There's special Ops available to Marines that are Deathwatch but that's it.

 

I went to their Facebook and asked them to add them in an upcoming release. I'd advise the same thing if you want a chance at seeing them as a playable faction in Shadow Wars.

TBH, I hope they don't. The last thing this scale of a game needs is an abundance of power armour.

 

 

Strongly disagree. I've played enough to know PA isn't that great. This army was built for this sort of mission scenario. If there is ONE PA loyalist army it should have been Deathwatch.

[Ordo Xenos Inquisitor]

No word yet besides the one special op that scouts can take. Though GW has promised more teams on the way and we know rules for Sisters and Inq are incoming so maybe there's hope.

 

We've got 3 schools of thought going on in another thread.

1) Scouts as Kill Marines, pretty easy translation.

2) GK counts as can bring DW style firepower (storm bolters, psycannons, etc)

3) Chaos counts as works the best for the team I want to build. A MoK Champ makes a good Blackshield, and you get access to some of the special gear (camo cloaks, etc) that GKs can't get, so I can easily run a geared out sniper.

 

 

I'd go for option 1 myself. :D

[Prot]

I like the idea of the scout one.. just don't like the aesthetic. Like nothing feels "Deathwatch" about their rules.  They're probably the strongest loyalist option, again PA means very little in this game, but if you haven't played much it's hard to convey just how crazy the pinning element of the game is.

 

The Chaos part is okay, but they don't have TSKNF which feels like Deathwatch should have it. But Chaos definitely has the best blend of PA and cheap cultists. The problem is cultists don't really work.

 

I guess if you go Chaos + Tzeentch, and forget Cultists you have PA that will stay pinned longer, and potentially you have your dual Gunner options though.

[Ordo Xenos Inquisitor]

Would it help if I told you that Kill-marines go for a more subtle approach to their missions compared to the more destructive power a true Kill Team provides? As such, they'd probably be given basic gear and because they are expected to not get a lot of support from their battle brothers, they would revert back to their Scout-marine roots in terms of tactics. 

[Captain Boyle]

Thanks. Didn't see there was already a topic made for this. My bad

[Prot]

So back to the main topic I can see a lot of reasons that you'd pick various factions while Deathwatch don't technically exist.

 

Chaos Tzeentch gives you psybolts but you lose They Shall Know No fear.

 

Grey Knights give you Psibolters, and Stormbolters, as well as special CC gear, but the extra psychics are fine with your leader, but a bit out of place for the regular dude unless you consider it a Deathwatch 'tech' in effect. (IE: Astral Aim = Frag tech or something.)

 

Astartes Scouts. This one is the hardest for me personally, but you will get sniper rifles (Stalker Bolters), Heavy Bolter, Missile launcher, and Shotguns. The weird thing is 'Noviciates' and the carapace armour.

 

Any others?

No word yet besides the one special op that scouts can take. Though GW has promised more teams on the way and we know rules for Sisters and Inq are incoming so maybe there's hope.

We've got 3 schools of thought going on in another thread.
1) Scouts as Kill Marines, pretty easy translation.
2) GK counts as can bring DW style firepower (storm bolters, psycannons, etc)
3) Chaos counts as works the best for the team I want to build. A MoK Champ makes a good Blackshield, and you get access to some of the special gear (camo cloaks, etc) that GKs can't get, so I can easily run a geared out sniper.

 

I missed the MoK which is a great Blackshield!

[Boyadventurer]

Hey Prot, GK still have a knife even though it's not listed on their entry other Kill Teams yeah? Since you've got a little action with them so far, any thoughts on running some guys with no upgrades? Storm bolters and ATSKNF keep tempting me...

Ughhhh nevermind, missed the spot about you having to buy them a h2h weapon. Lame

[Panzer]

Deathwatch houserules should be pretty easy tbh.
Take the points for CSM and give everyone with Bolter the option to buy additional ammunition. If you want to have all the ammunition you'd have in regular 40k they'd become VERY expensive but that's okay imo

With the misc gear you also have the option to build your own stalker bolter kinda.

 

My Tzeentch guy for example now has a 36" Bolter with BS5 that reduces cover by 1 with a -3 save modifier. If that's not a pretty much perfect representation of a Stalker Bolter with special ammo then I don't know.

 

Specialists get access to a lot of special and heavy weapons which we already have rules for.

 

The only thing that's missing for proper Deathwatch rules would be the leader special rule...oh and the point costs for the various ammunition types of course. Everything else is already there and just as to put together on the same page. ^^

[Vel'Cona]

TBH while I'm still somewhat excited for Shadow Wars, the odd exclusion of obvious elements (in particular, things I happen to have models for) like DW and Iron Hands has reduced my enthusiasm for the game somewhat. Don't get me wrong, I'll probably pull out random Scouts somewhere just to give the ruleset a try (was never a Necromunda guy) but at this point I'm not really in the market to buy new models for this game, especially when I have so many that should already have been covered.

[Prot]

I agree Vel. It's a touch disheartening when you don't really see your Faction up there. I think it's interesting to note that Deathwatch are different enough from your every day marine that here we are, as a group, trying to figure out which current faction ruleset would best match what we do.

 

After a few more games, with a few factions and reading all the posts, I think I've come to believe Deathwatch fit somewhere between Grey Knights and Chaos. Obviously the most glaring issues being (collectively): Loss of ATSKNF (which is actually a big rule), Cultists, and with Grey Knights you're paying for Psychic abilities. We could pretend the Psychic powers are skill sets, or extra gear. Like... Astral Aim could really be the Tome of Ectoclades or something similar.

[Xisor]

I'm inclined to just forge on and use that observation, Prof, as a yard stick. More populous at the basic level than GK, but more elite and smaller than Chaos/Scouts.

 

As long as you're hitting that realm, things are probably good. The tabletop special stuff (frag/HTH) is inhuman overkill for the Shadow War level, so ending up with odd groups of (literally) bolter+chainsword Marines is pretty sensible.

 

Indeed, it's an opportunity to get Deathwatch right, after a fashion. More so than their Codex did! :D

[Prot]

I'll probably be trying Deathwatch tonight with Chaos rules. Starting with 2 Gunners ( flamer + Heavy bolter). No cultists of course. I guess one could be an inquisitor. lol

[Prot]

Taken from the Pre Order details from the NZ website:

 

 

 

Inquisitors of the Ordos Xenos

 

This is one of the two, unreleased factions.

 

Now the question is.... does this get us Deathwatch? Or is it IG with a capital "I" on their flak armour? 

[Kastor Krieg]

Taken from the Pre Order details from the NZ website:

 

 

 

Inquisitors of the Ordos Xenos

 

This is one of the two, unreleased factions.

 

Now the question is.... does this get us Deathwatch? Or is it IG with a capital "I" on their flak armour? 

carapace armoured Ordo Xenos Inq + flak armoured Acolyte / Initiate +  carapace Crusaders in main; Arco-flaggellant that is flesh wounded on 1-3 + Death Cult assassins with Fear and 5++ save + DW Vet + DW Vanguard Vet.

[Prot]

Yup just confirmed it myself...

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/ShadowWar/SWA_Killteams_ENG.pdf

 

Time to dump these turkeys. 

[Irbis]

What is really funny that after very underwhelming DW vet, the Vanguard special Xenos Inquisitor can take is all kinds of broken. You get to trade chainsword for any melee weapon for free (yes, even Thunder Hammers) then swap pistol for any other (even inferno pistol). Terminator level offensive output, unparalleled mobility and all that without drawback of extra reward other better operatives have. This guy is pretty much auto-take over all other specials Inquisition has...

[Panzer]

Maybe that's why he only got M4 (totally a typo but still!) :D

[Kastor Krieg]

Maybe that's why he only got M4 (totally a typo but still!)

That's fluffy. He's overencumbered by all "teh speshul gear" ;)

[Paradigm]

The inquisimunda rules are about 98% compatible and include things like marines and deathwatch. I suspect the success of the pylgrim event at warhammer world played a small part in the ruleset's reintroduction. Most of the inquisimunda players I know arent even really changing their warbands. They're just making sure their opponents have access to the supplementary rules for their campaigns. They aren't official rules, but plenty of people who work for GW or used to, or are huge figures in the community have worked hard to balance and keep te ruleset alive.

[Brother Tyler]

I've been working on rules for a [power armoured] Space Marines faction in Shadow War: Armageddon and have taken an initial stab at things. These rules include rules for all Chapters other than the Grey Knights.

My intent is to use the skill charts as a basis for Deathwatch rules, which will come later (gotta get the baseline done before we move to the advanced stuff )

You can see Playtest V1.0 here.

I'd appreciate any feedback that you can provide to make this a better (and balanced) product.