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Death Watch Squad (Ordo Xenos)


Kronk

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I's like to make some Death Watch figures for my codex marines army. So, for a game-legal Death Watch squad, would a sternguard squad be the obvious choice?

 

Combiflamers, heavy flamers, and a Lightning claw would seem to be good verus nearly all xenos troops. Would it go against the fluff if I just used the sergeant as the squad's Watch Commander instead of a Captain, Librarian or other HQ?

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Sternguard are relatively close to the old Deathwatch Kill Team rules that were available before 5th edition 40K. I'd use them for that purpose myself.

 

As for fluff ... the Deathwatch are incredibly sketchy. There's very little you can do that will contradict any established fluff. There's so very little of it in existence.

As for fluff ... the Deathwatch are incredibly sketchy. There's very little you can do that will contradict any established fluff. There's so very little of it in existence.

 

Because we all pretend the Goto books - the only cast-iron background for Deathwatch Marines in any format - do not exist :D

As for fluff ... the Deathwatch are incredibly sketchy. There's very little you can do that will contradict any established fluff. There's so very little of it in existence.

 

Because we all pretend the Goto books - the only cast-iron background for Deathwatch Marines in any format - do not exist :D

 

 

This.

 

/thread

True; I've stepped in on a few games of that, and I have to say I was fairly impressed.

 

While everything is, of course, dependant on who your DM is (and how sadistic they happen to be), the game itself lended the same amount of fatal grimdark that Dark Heresy lended to mere human characters.

 

I suppose if one was looking for information on Deathwatch, you could do some poking around in the RPG books. I'm fervantly hoping that those RPG books cast a better light on history than the C:BA or Goto did for fluff.

Because we all pretend the Goto books - the only cast-iron background for Deathwatch Marines in any format - do not exist :lol:

Besides that new spangled Deathwatch RPG... :)

 

Oh, yeah that massive book I paid for... I forgot that one.

 

See how Goto affects the brain?

There are other resources, though as stated they are few by comparison to many other things in the 40K universe. As for gameplay, yes, the SternGuard are the easiest and most convenient corelation to fielding a DeathWatch squad in your Army. With the allowance of taking Allies you have the flexibility in putting almost anything on the board. The primary limitation there would be the number of Codices to have and be fmiliar with the General the Army effectively.

 

A Veteran Sergeant as a squad leader wouldn't be too out of context IMO. There are times when a team has to split up to accomplish various facets of a mission as was described in "Headhunter" from Heroes of the Space Marines.

Ohh there's probably a fair amount that you could remain speculative about, but again, what are we comparing this fluff to? The works of He Who Shall Not Be Named?

 

Hell, I say take it and run with it. Thusfar there's no better source out there, and while some of the stuff might not translate or seem to make sense, I'm betting that would fill a fair amount of gaps too.

Brother Vash113 has diligently compiled and provided a resident resource for those interested: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...p;#entry2591153 It's worth a gander but it isn't quite "iron clad" AFAIK. It is a resource nonetheless. Again, a squad of DW can (from what I have read to date) by any of it's members as a matter of tactical practicality - they do suffer casualties during missions. A typical Kill-team is led in the general manner described by the common resources stated. Could be that the team was split up to assist the (your) Army and the Captain or Librairian normally leading it may be at another location doing something else or been suffered as a casualty prior to arriving shoulder-to-shoulder with your Army.

 

Not typical but, again IMO, not out of the realm of possibility.

Thanks everyone! Excellent replies. I'm going to work these into my army as sternguard with heavy flamers and combi-flamers. I have some blood angels, black templar, crimsbon fists, space wolves, dark angels and ultramarines bits to go with my Death Watch shoulder pads.
I have never looked at the RPG myself. Not sure how much the fluff for that would translate over to wargaming, though...?

 

Pretty much all of it, and I was surprised how well they integrated it into the existing canon. They did their homework, and came out with a damn good product, both fluff and gameplay-wise.

 

-Stormshrug

In general, fluff is a direct translation into any format. It is the stories and background regardless of the game being RPG, TTG or a combination. Game mechanics require the biggest effor in translating one type of game into another as the game systems vary in the way skills are computed to: cost, be implimented, results derived, and overall flow of the game turn and balance of play.

 

Fluff generally doesn't take much of a departure from existing canon. If any "departure" is noted, it is usually a result of expanding into a new extension of existing information - into the unknown (sector for instance), as it were. Exisiting fluff is rarely challenged directly by contradiction unless "alternate timeline" variations are introduced and that causes a lot a different headaches for everyone involved.

 

So the RPG Rulebook actually incorporated the mahjority of the known existing fluff and actualy expanded some of the core or basic elements that were just vaguely expressed in previous resources. The amount of additional details revealed are more than all the previous collectively. There are still many things that are not revealed but that may be due to GW deciding to keep things about this secretive facet of the 40K universe just that. They will open the chest so far and they will decide when and how much further they will open it next.

 

ETA:

 

Fluff = the background stories and information that give context to the current. It's not necessarily the content that is most important.

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