How does the Deathwatch get around?

[Adeptus]

As in, how do they get from planet to planet? Does the Deahwatch keep their own fleet of strike cruisers? Do they loan them from their donor chapters? Do they always hitch a ride on Navy ships or do they rely on the Inquisition to provide transport when needed? Basically I'm looking at expanding my BFG forces and wondering if it would be thematic to include a dedicated Deathwatch strike cruiser, or if it's safe to assume they'd be on a regular SM cruiser, Navy ship or my Inquisition cruiser?

[Commander Dawnstar]

There isn't a huge amount to go on (and most of it comes from the Deathwatch RPG and thus is of dubious canonicity) but your first ports of call are here and here.

 

Essentially they do have their own fleet, predominantly smaller rapid-strike vessels, but also hitch rides when it suits the mission. They've certainly been portrayed as possessing strike cruisers so there's some basis in the lore if you'd like to make one of your own.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Commander Dawnstar

[N1SB]

I actually played the Fantasy Flight Games RPGs (Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, Deathwatch of course) and I agree with Commander Dawnstar's assessment, but will share my own experiences to support your ideas here.

 

 

it's safe to assume they'd be on a regular SM cruiser, Navy ship or my Inquisition cruiser?

 

 

Short answer: it's totally safe to assume your Deathwatch would be on a regular Imperial Navy ship or your =][= cruiser.

 

 

Long answer:  In fact, IMHO, it's far more commonplace that Deathwatch hitches a ride with the Imperial Navy or =][= cruiser than using their own Deathwatch fleet.

 

My reasoning is how Deathwatch operates generally and the scale of their operations.  You may have a full army of them, but overall they're really, really spread out all over the galaxy.  They deploy faster/more efficiently from mission to mission by hailing nearby Imperium ships than to wait for one of their limited pure Deathwatch fleet ships to pick them up.  I've ridden on Imperial Navy ships, a Rogue Trader ship, even a merchant ship once I think.  It's a resource allocation issue and it actually made more sense to hitch a ride from whomever was closest, which was usually not a dedicated Deathwatch ship.

 

Example: there was 1 mission against Tyranids where the Deathwatch squad was received by an Imperial Navy fleet of a few cruisers.  We all wanted the Tyranids stopped, but we had to strategise and convince the captain of the fleet that our way was best (as he was risking his own ships/soldiers to help us).  Working with the captain and his strategist and his own troops to support us was the fun part of the mission; the actual fighting was kinda boring.  It was just 1 squad rather than a full Deathwatch army, however.

 

 

Bonus answer: not only would your Deathwatch army be transported with Imperial Navy ships, but they might be different ones from mission to mission.  Just whomever was closest and most able and willing to help.

 

It's still early 8th and I won't presume what your army's like, but if your meta is anything like ours, we're experimenting with different army combinations since Faction Keywords made it more flexible than ever.  So I'm imagining one week your Deathwatch could be riding on a Space Marine cruiser to fight alongside them, another your Deathwatch could carpool with an Imperial Navy fleet and fighting alongside Leman Russes, then another on their reporting =][= ship.

 

That might be the most fun yet also most accurate portrayal of Deathwatch's mode of operating!

[Adeptus]

Cheers, thanks very much for the reply. Given the hassle of tracking down Strike Cruisers for BFG I don't think I'll bother with one for the Deathwatch, especially given how rarely they'd be utilised in the lore. Thanks again for such a detailed response!

[Xisor]

There's a quite lovely section in "Deathwatch" by Ian St Martin that covers this very thing. Strictly I call it Deathwatch 2: Deathwatcher, as they already had "Deathwatch" by Steve Parker, but I digress...

 

Specifically:

Artemis is *shocked* to find their rapid strike vessel making it's rendezvous with Furor Shield and seeing a Battle Barge.

 

Well, the shock is: There are two. The entire Watch Fortress is assembled.

 

But yes, for the most part it seems to be rapid strike vessels. There's some Gladius frigates mentioned, as well as some Kill Teams hitching lifts or going into peculiar methods, but as a Watch Fortress is probably only about ~200 Marines, they really don't need much. That said, given their propensity for small elite operations, even things as big as Strike Cruisers are perhaps overkill. (Or should I say: Deathwatch: Overkill? :D )

[Prot]

Xisor beat me to it. The Deathwatch novel makes reference to their own strike cruisers. Some with stealth tech and they also carry the Blackstars for orbital launches when necessary.

 

The Deathwatch book is a good read and I would highly advise it for DW players. It's just some darn good action and a great intro to some new characters which of course includes the old favourite, Artemis.

[Adeptus]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out.