New to Forum and Deathwatch

[xersent]

Hi guys,

 

Apologies if this post is in the wrong place! 

 

I'm new to 40k and the joys that is the DW. iv had 2 1v1 games so far against my friend who played world eaters. I could do with some advice please .

 

i need help with an army list that could help keep him at bay a little longer, as once he is in, i get stomped. 

 

I have various Vets, art, 2x lib (one with and one without termie armour), watch master (who was awesome fun to paint), bike squad (7 of them), vanguard squad (7 of them too, all melee), Land raider, Corvus and 2 dreads. 

 

He is wanting to play 2k points, which considering all i have played so far is 1x 500 point and a 2v2 1k. 

 

so if you guys have got any advice on what to get/take/burn/not bother with that would be great.

 

Thanks

 

Xersent

Edited August 30, 2017 by xersent

[Prot]

Welcome to the forum xersent!

 

I'm not going to lie, you're probably going to hear a bit of negativity. The army is a characterful one for sure. As an index army it's pretty rough, very expensive pointswise, and has a fragile/elite nature to it that is extremely unforgiving.

 

DW are in a tough spot right now. I love the flyer still, the Deathwatch Master is a great HQ, and the basic vet is still 'good'. You can of course now including Primaris if you wish.

 

A lot of basic 'marine' stuff still works. There's a lot of power in effective use of a Landraider or two. The Razorback with (my fave) twin Assault Cannon is still very economical. Ven dreads are still great shooty boxes.

 

In a very compact nutshell, the biggest hindrance is that everything unique to Deathwatch is overpriced to varying degrees.... remember you may pay more per guy, but they die just as easily as a 'vanilla' marine.

 

There's always a temptation to tool up your squads with all the toys... it's just really difficult to be competitive when you do that. Stick to basic, strong choices and you'll have some fun against stuff like Chaos Space Marines.  :)

[xersent]

so play a little more basic?

[N00BST4R]

You're already paying for Special Issue Ammo on every Vet regardless if they can use it or not. The SIA is really good though so try maximizing the number of vets using it. Frag cannons are great and if you need something anti-armor - Razorback with lascannons. Armor is a bit of a weaker spot for DW. Edited August 30, 2017 by N00BST4R

[Mobius0288]

I mentioned a few things I like to do in this thread: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/338689-deathwatch-in-8th/

 

I prefer to use my kill teams in the fight so I don't have many elite choices in my army - specifically vanguards and terminators. I always feel like I can do better with a kill team. Dreadnaughts and Reivers primarily what I would take for support or more bodies.

 

Razorbacks compliment the armies fragile and mobile needs, just vary the weapons to your needs.

 

The way I did my kill teams are here: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/338028-dw-battalion-2000-batrep-summary/

 

My stuff ain't perfect, but it seems to work for me and some of my meta. Definitely look around the Army List page to get some ideas on kill team composition. There's no checklist of things to bring vs a particular army so do what fits your wants (fluff AND tactics).

 

I like to think:

- Combi-flamers/shotguns for up close shooting against many targets and some stronger targets.

- Combi-plasma is a decent all around weapon

- Combi-meltas are sorta situational but are beast up close when they hit, can pair well with a frag cannon or two

- Frag Cannons are great all around guns but probably don't want more than two per squad due to cost and efficiency reasons

- Stalker bolters are great supporting guns (hellfire when moving, any other round depending on target distance and standing still)

-- Pairs well with a couple missile launchers, infernus bolters or heavy bolters (specifically if they are camping)

 

You can always throw on some power weapons on the vets but chainswords work great too.

[MeltaRange]

There is a ton of good advice here on the forum to read if you have some time.  Ultimately, I've found in my ~20 games of 8th with Deathwatch that 2 main things ring true:

 

1) have a good alpha strike plan

2) plain veterans with no upgrades are the best choice IMO (sprinkle in other weapons - 3 regular guys/2 special weapons MAX per Kill Team)

 

Just my thoughts.  Have fun and make an army that you enjoy.

[Dr. Clock]

Some good advice here.

 

Deathwatch Kill Teams do need to be tuned to specific jobs unit by unit. There are so many options that you can put together pretty specialized units, but it's really easy to either over-generalize (and thus not be able to do enough with each unit on its own, wasting points), or to over-specialize (and thus have too much invested in a unit that basically always overkills its enemy, again wasting points).

 

Given what you have, though, I'd actually start with all the OTHER units - leaving the Kill Teams to minimum-sized squads to get the necessary Troops choices. 

 

By my calculations, at 2k you can take all your vehicles, 5 vanguard kitted for 'heavy' work (e.g. 2 heavy thunder hammers and 2 storm shields), 2x3 bikes (great mobile fire and counter-assault with cheap power weapons) and 2 HQs while still having points for 3x5-man Kill Teams with a couple weapon options in each (1x5 each in the Corvus and LR, with one unit, potentially with no upgrades, as an objective camper).

 

That should give you all the tools you need - mobility and hitting power will be solid, and you'll have enough vehicles to distract the enemy from targeting your marines.

 

Against Khorne you'll need to focus on your spacing - having units close enough to support one another but not so close that everyone gets dragged in once assault starts. Bikes and Vanguard as a counter-punch for assaults that make contact should work okay, but in general you'll want to keep everyone back in the early game so that you can get some shooting in. With DW I find that the first three turns are a bit of a waiting game to get the enemy spread out before dropping the hammer in turn four or even five to seize objectives. DW don't have numbers on their side, but they do have the ability to drop ALOT of effective firepower very precisely. Thus, they need to wait a bit to force the enemy to maneuver, and then pounce only when enemy units become separated from one another over the course of the game.

 

Cheers,

 

The Good Doctor.