Deathwatch at 1000 points

[adam346]

Hi everyone,

 

My local gaming group has organised an inter-store competition with a store in another town, where 9 players from each store play against each other in what has come to be known as "The Promethium Ashes" (for those not aware, the Ashes is a cricket series played between rival nations England and Australia). 

 

The first round is a doubles event, at 1000 points. The second round is a singles at 1500. I have a solid idea for a 1500 list, but I throw myself at your behest for suggestions for a 1000 point list that is reasonably strong. 

 

We are allowed up to 2 detachments, but as we are not allowed to duplicate factions I am pretty much limited to Deathwatch, with a few exceptions. Its also worth noting that in order to promote balanced lists, doubles pairings will be entirely random and drawn on the day. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,
Adam

[Inquisitor Red]

So I've run in a couple of 1000 point team tournies with Solo Deathwatch and I've done pretty well. Sense its 1,000 pts most people can't afford to bring out the big toys, so your going to see lots of infantry foot slogging. So in this instance I run a pure dakka dakka anti infantry DW list. I just throw my entire army at being tailored to get rid of infantry. This is the list I've been running below. I try to run as much SIA bolters as possible. Your rolling the dice without any anti vehicle components, but I've found that DW excell at anti infantry better, and at a 1000 pt level this fits them perfectly.

 

x1 Deathwatch Battalion:

 

HQ - Watch Master (use to give re-rolls to bolter squads)

 

HQ - Watch Captain w Hammer, Shield, and Jump Pack - deep strike him solo in the backfield, to get line breaker, harass, or hold opponents objectives. 

 

Troops - x5 veterans with storm bolters, or 5 man basic intersessor squads with basic rifles. Take your pick in any combination. The Primaris are better at holding objectives, but don't throw out as much dakka as the storm bolter vets. Either way I at least deep strike a storm bolter vet squad accompanied by the Watch Master. This is a turn 2 band aid unit that pops up and wipes any infantry unit that my regulars cant reach.

 

Fast Attack - x3 three man bike squads all with power swords. I like using bikes because they're tough, fast, decent objective grabbers for early game. They also provide a early game distraction while the regular guys move up to grab objects, move, etc. 

[adam346]

So I've run in a couple of 1000 point team tournies with Solo Deathwatch and I've done pretty well. Sense its 1,000 pts most people can't afford to bring out the big toys, so your going to see lots of infantry foot slogging. So in this instance I run a pure dakka dakka anti infantry DW list. I just throw my entire army at being tailored to get rid of infantry. This is the list I've been running below. I try to run as much SIA bolters as possible. Your rolling the dice without any anti vehicle components, but I've found that DW excell at anti infantry better, and at a 1000 pt level this fits them perfectly.

 

x1 Deathwatch Battalion:

 

HQ - Watch Master (use to give re-rolls to bolter squads)

 

HQ - Watch Captain w Hammer, Shield, and Jump Pack - deep strike him solo in the backfield, to get line breaker, harass, or hold opponents objectives. 

 

Troops - x5 veterans with storm bolters, or 5 man basic intersessor squads with basic rifles. Take your pick in any combination. The Primaris are better at holding objectives, but don't throw out as much dakka as the storm bolter vets. Either way I at least deep strike a storm bolter vet squad accompanied by the Watch Master. This is a turn 2 band aid unit that pops up and wipes any infantry unit that my regulars cant reach.

 

Fast Attack - x3 three man bike squads all with power swords. I like using bikes because they're tough, fast, decent objective grabbers for early game. They also provide a early game distraction while the regular guys move up to grab objects, move, etc. 

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply. These suggestions sound really good, I hope to have a test game in the next week or so and its given me hope.

 

With regards to the jump pack captain, do you play him as a sacrifice unit to distract from the main forces or could he roll along with the bikers perhaps? I just struggle to see the value in him currently, but I'm definitely open to new ideas. 

[Inquisitor Red]

 

So I've run in a couple of 1000 point team tournies with Solo Deathwatch and I've done pretty well. Sense its 1,000 pts most people can't afford to bring out the big toys, so your going to see lots of infantry foot slogging. So in this instance I run a pure dakka dakka anti infantry DW list. I just throw my entire army at being tailored to get rid of infantry. This is the list I've been running below. I try to run as much SIA bolters as possible. Your rolling the dice without any anti vehicle components, but I've found that DW excell at anti infantry better, and at a 1000 pt level this fits them perfectly.

 

x1 Deathwatch Battalion:

 

HQ - Watch Master (use to give re-rolls to bolter squads)

 

HQ - Watch Captain w Hammer, Shield, and Jump Pack - deep strike him solo in the backfield, to get line breaker, harass, or hold opponents objectives. 

 

Troops - x5 veterans with storm bolters, or 5 man basic intersessor squads with basic rifles. Take your pick in any combination. The Primaris are better at holding objectives, but don't throw out as much dakka as the storm bolter vets. Either way I at least deep strike a storm bolter vet squad accompanied by the Watch Master. This is a turn 2 band aid unit that pops up and wipes any infantry unit that my regulars cant reach.

 

Fast Attack - x3 three man bike squads all with power swords. I like using bikes because they're tough, fast, decent objective grabbers for early game. They also provide a early game distraction while the regular guys move up to grab objects, move, etc. 

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply. These suggestions sound really good, I hope to have a test game in the next week or so and its given me hope.

 

With regards to the jump pack captain, do you play him as a sacrifice unit to distract from the main forces or could he roll along with the bikers perhaps? I just struggle to see the value in him currently, but I'm definitely open to new ideas. 

 

 

I usually make the Captain a Suicide Captain, but I've run him with the bikes form time to time depending on the matchup or what I need tactically. The benefit for you is sense your partner will be changing every match up you can flex the Captain in with whatever situation works best. If your partner is a stagnate gun line, I'd deep strike him. If your partner is super agro, then keeping him back isn't a bad idea. 

 

I can't tell you how many times he's won me games because he's gotten line breaker, holding an objective, or just causing chaos in a backfield.

[adam346]

Taking into account the advice above and what i have read around the forums, here is the list i will be trialing in a practice game next week. Its a mixture of units that seem effective, units that i want to bring (frag cannons) and combining them in a way to suit my play style. 

 

HQ: Watch Captain, Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer, Storm Bolter, Relic: Bane Bolts of Eryxia

 

HQ: Watch Captain, Stalker Bolter, Power Sword

 

Troops: Intercessors x 5, Bolt rifles, Hellblasters x 2

 

Troops: Veterans x 6, 4 x Stormbolters/chainswords, 1 storm shield, 2 x frag cannons

 

Troops: Veterans x 6, 4 x Stormbolters/chainswords, 1 storm shield, 2 x frag cannons

 

Troops: Veterans x 5, 4 x Stalker bolters/chainswords, 1 storm shield, 1 x heavy bolter

 

Fast Attack: Bikers x 3, Stormbolter (for Sgt), chainswords

 

Fast Attack: Bikers x 3, Stormbolter (for Sgt), chainswords

 

I will let you guys know how i get on. Couple of things I'm not sure on:

 

- Which captain to make the warlord, and which trait to go with.

- Is the Banebolts relic worth trying out or is the Tome of Ectoclades better for the synergies? 

 

Adam

[LucidNinja]

Little piece of advice is all of those veteran squads need a storm shield. That little extra save will go a long way. With your main anti tank being the frag cannons maybe consider putting the beacon on your JP captain. Throw him up the board and teleport 1 squad up while deep striking the other. Saves you a CP that you'll want to be using on hellfire rounds. Also maybe put a stalker rifle on the 2nd captain and have him baby sit the other stalkers. He's a good candidate for tempest shells with good range then.

[adam346]

Little piece of advice is all of those veteran squads need a storm shield. That little extra save will go a long way. With your main anti tank being the frag cannons maybe consider putting the beacon on your JP captain. Throw him up the board and teleport 1 squad up while deep striking the other. Saves you a CP that you'll want to be using on hellfire rounds. Also maybe put a stalker rifle on the 2nd captain and have him baby sit the other stalkers. He's a good candidate for tempest shells with good range then.

 

Thanks for the feedback - they do have one stormshield in each frag squad, i forgot to add that in (now edited). Do you think 1 is enough? I've modified the captain to allow a storm shield for the stalker squad too.

 

That's an interesting ploy with the beacon, i will give that a try - thanks for the tip.

[LucidNinja]

Awesome. I think 1 is enough for smaller squads. 2-3 for full sized. Only other thought is that you have a lot of drops, I hope you play on properly terrained boards, expect to be going second a bit. You could go a completely different route to avoid this but cross that bridge if your loosing a lot.

Keep us posted on your progress

[adam346]

Ok so the test game was reasonably successful. I was partnered with a sisters of battle player with a very strong list (with lots of accidental synergy actually, as it was quite an assault-heavy list with a lot of melta), against a tyranid player and an ork player. The lists were as follows - tyranid horde of termagaunts with ridiculous shooting, lots of smaller squads of hormagaunts, -1 to hit bubble floaty gribbly and a couple of genestealer blobs with a broodlord; Ork speed freaks list with 2 blobs of bikes, characters on wartrack and bike, couple of the new teleporting buggies.

 

Here is my final list:

HQ: Watch Captain, Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer, Storm Bolter, Relic: Beacon Angelis, Warlord Trait: Bane of Monstrosities (taken to help with vehicles mainly)

HQ: Watch Captain, Stalker Bolter, Power Sword

 

Troops: Intercessors x 5, Bolt rifles, Hellblasters x 2

Troops: Veterans x 6, 4 x Stormbolters/chainswords, 1 storm shield, 2 x frag cannons

Troops: Veterans x 6, 4 x Stormbolters/chainswords, 1 storm shield, 2 x frag cannons

Troops: Veterans x 5, 4 x Stalker bolters/chainswords, 1 storm shield, 1 x heavy bolter

 

Fast Attack: Bikers x 3, Stormbolter (for Sgt), chainswords

Fast Attack: Bikers x 3, Stormbolter (for Sgt), chainswords

 

In fairness, the lists were very favourable to me given the amount of infantry. In addition, corner deployment meant they were very boxed in which allowed us to blast away longer than we probably should have! There were a few takeaways from the game:

 

1. There was a scary amount of firepower. Every turn I was able to kill significant quantities of stuff. 

2. The Beacon tactic was very cool. It allowed me to relocate one of the storm bolter kill teams into position for maximum efficiency shooting turn 1 - it occurred to me after the fact, but was it ok to use the Beacon turn 1 given the new reserve rules? 

3. The Stalker squad have given me a bit of a headache. Sat in a ruin with the captain, they did some good work in this particular match up. They are not currently in my 1500 list, but now i don't know whether i need to make room for them! A good problem to have.

4. The bikes give some much needed speed to an otherwise fairly slow list. Squads of 3 are fairly survivable and good for harassment - I might have to look at tweaking the way i run them moving forward, as i try to run units of 5 currently.

5. I didn't really get much mileage out of the captain in this game. The beacon was good, but not sure about the warlord trait moving forward. Maybe the switch mission tactics trait might give more utility?

 

Overall, this was a solid test although i am conscious that a lot of stuff went in my favour that i cannot always rely on. For example, if i run into a particularly vehicle heavy list (or heaven-forbid, a knight list) i am probably in trouble.