Best ways to take advantage of Power Level games

[Masked Thespian]

Hey everyone.

 

As mentioned previously, I'm planning on attending the next Warhammer World campaign weekend event, The Tenebris System, and I'm going to be taking my Deathwatch.  For the most part, I'm going to be taking pure Deathwatch, with the only deviation being an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor, his transport (if any) and his support staff/bodyguards (if any).

 

The campaign weekend allows you to take an army of your choice with no limitations other than that all units have to have the IMPERIUM keyword, the CHAOS keyword, or neither keyword (I.e. all Xenos armies), depending on the ticket you bought (in my case, all units have to have the IMPERIUM keyword).  Nonetheless, I plan on sticking to the above restrictions (Deathwatch & OX Inquisitor + retainers), especially to the point that I'm hoping to not have to buy any new models (having purchased a lot of Deathwatch when they first came out).

 

The armies have to be Battle Forged with a maximum of three detachments, and the composition of the army roster can be changed between games.  Most importantly (to this post, at least), the army limit is 100 Power Levels, rather than a points cost limit.

 

Whilst I'm planning on taking a fun and thematic army, I'm not opposed to taking a handful of well-tuned units to make sure the army does well on the tabletop.  It's my understanding that pure Deathwatch haven't been doing too well in 8th Edition, so I don't feel too bad taking a few powerful units.

 

So, with regards to units with the DEATHWATCH keyword, where are the places that you can take advantage of using Power Levels rather than points?

 

The obvious choice to me seems to be to take minimum-sized Deathwatch Kill Teams, as taking 2 minimum-sized units versus taking 1 full sized unit costs 18 PL as opposed to 19 PL for the same 10 models, which is a minimal saving but it is a saving.  Also, you get two Watch Sergeants, the opportunity to take two Black Shields, and double the amount of Heavy Weapons.  Presumably, the best way to also take advantage of Power Levels is to upgrade the models as much as possible, with Power Weapons and Combi-Weapons on most, if not all, models in the Kill Team.  I don't think I'd want to do this with all of my Kill Teams, as I do intend to play points-cost games with them too, but I don't mind assembling a couple of units like this.

 

Are there any other places where using Power Levels over points costs gives you an advantage in pure Deathwatch?

[Moostick]

Just take a bunch of full frag cannon + combi + storm shield units.

 

Give them transports, or simply walk them up the board and laaaaaaaugh.

[Kargrym]

Well, first and foremost there is the fact that a unit of troops can have 4 heavy weapons in it.

 

If you want to break faces, have a Corvus with 2 Kill Teams in the transport each with 4 Frag Cannons and a Sarge with Combi-Melta/Power Weapon.

 

Other abuses are Terminators with Meltafists,  a unit with 4 Cyclone Missle Launchers or 4 Auto Cannons.

 

Vanguard with dual Plasma pistols paired with a Jump Pack Captain is ugly.

[Kolyarut]

I'm thinking combi-flamers are the weapon of choice to go in the Frag Cannon squads - assuming there's anything left in an 8" radius once the frag cannons are done.

 

I'm wondering how combi-plasmas stack up next to Hellblasters. Hellblasters critically have twice the wounds, but can't fit in a transport. Effectively by transporting them to the front line though you're sacrificing one round of max range fire for a short range rapid fire in turn two, which isn't necessarily better...

[Irbis]

Well, first and foremost there is the fact that a unit of troops can have 4 heavy weapons in it.

 

If you want to break faces, have a Corvus with 2 Kill Teams in the transport each with 4 Frag Cannons and a Sarge with Combi-Melta/Power Weapon.

 

Other abuses are Terminators with Meltafists,  a unit with 4 Cyclone Missle Launchers or 4 Auto Cannons.

 

Vanguard with dual Plasma pistols paired with a Jump Pack Captain is ugly.

 

Actually, we can do better. Imagine a kill team with quad lascannon, plus sarge with TH/SS to tank hits. Put three of these in the back, with watch master. 34 points.

 

Now for offensive part of the list. Notice how 6 bikers cost just 10 points? Despite having 12 wounds, not 5 like kill team? And equivalent of 12 bolters? We'll take 3. 30 points.

 

Then finally, we need some target saturation and a bit more anti-infantry, plus something to physically shield bikes and/or kill teams. What's that? Razorback costs 5 points? And we have 8+ units eligible for these? There, we take 6 then, thanks. Slap twin assault cannons, hunter-killers and bolters on top. Bargain at just 30 more points.

 

That leaves us with 6 points, just enough to take Inquisitor. No idea why, maybe to spectate following fireworks. Plus, some spare change for mooks

[Matt_149]

Depends how much you want to be "that guy" at 100 power, get 2 watch masters (14) and 5 squads of terminators with 3 cyclone missile launchers in each and whatever powerweapons/storm Shields you want. Even basic that's 2360 pts for 100 Pl.

[Closet Skeleton]

Hey everyone.

 

As mentioned previously, I'm planning on attending the next Warhammer World campaign weekend event, The Tenebris System, and I'm going to be taking my Deathwatch.  For the most part, I'm going to be taking pure Deathwatch, with the only deviation being an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor, his transport (if any) and his support staff/bodyguards (if any).

 

I'm going to the same event, but only Chaos tickets were left when I found out about it.

 

Magnets are good, especially when you can change between games and tailoring to the scenario (if not your opponent's army) is fair game. I'd pack some artillery if you have any, you don't want to end up in a siege scenario with just shotguns.

 

The advantage of Acolytes is how you can model them. Otherwise Crusaders sound good but bare in mind that Crusaders can be modeled differently as well. To be honest the Aquila lander is probably protection enough. If I was an Inquisitor with a plane I wouldn't land until my objective was in my grasp.

 

The obvious Deathwatch power level efficiency scenario is terminators with melta guns and cyclone missile launchers. Personally I like all my Kill Teams (well, I have two including Cassius) to be proper mixed units but I didn't design my customized team to be used just to be a bunch of cool heroes I could ally in for Apocalypse games.

 

Deathwatch Veterans are effectively 40 points, so there's no reason to be shy about throwing upgrades on them. I have the same problem with my Chaos Terminators. Giving them all combi-meltas and chainfists would be abusive, using my normal 2000 point load out would be screwing myself over.

[Masked Thespian]

Thanks for all of the advice, everyone.  I'll be sure to take as much of it on board as I can.

 

I, sadly, don't have limitless pockets nor access to a huge range of bits, so I won't be able to do a number of the suggestions given, but they have given me some food for thought.  As I mentioned in my first post, the entire army isn't going to be tricked out to take advantage of being in Power Levels but I do plan on taking either one or two units like that or spread a trick or two amongst each/most unit/s in the army just to make sure I don't just flat out lose every game.

 

I did want to talk about a couple of the points raised by a few of the commenters, mostly questions about things that I'm not 100% on.

 

 

If you want to break faces, have a Corvus with 2 Kill Teams in the transport each with 4 Frag Cannons and a Sarge with Combi-Melta/Power Weapon.

 

I'm not completely up to date on 8th Edition rules, but is that okay?  Can you transport multiple units in a single transport these days?

 

 

I'm wondering how combi-plasmas stack up next to Hellblasters. Hellblasters critically have twice the wounds, but can't fit in a transport. Effectively by transporting them to the front line though you're sacrificing one round of max range fire for a short range rapid fire in turn two, which isn't necessarily better...

 

Can Deathwatch take Primaris Marines?  Last time I checked, they didn't have access to them.  Did I miss some errata somewhere?

 

 

Actually, we can do better. Imagine a kill team with quad lascannon, plus sarge with TH/SS to tank hits.

 

Can Deathwatch Kill Teams take Lascannons?  Again, is there errata that I've missed?

 

 

 

Hey everyone.

 

As mentioned previously, I'm planning on attending the next Warhammer World campaign weekend event, The Tenebris System, and I'm going to be taking my Deathwatch.  For the most part, I'm going to be taking pure Deathwatch, with the only deviation being an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor, his transport (if any) and his support staff/bodyguards (if any).

 

I'm going to the same event, but only Chaos tickets were left when I found out about it.

 

Magnets are good, especially when you can change between games and tailoring to the scenario (if not your opponent's army) is fair game. I'd pack some artillery if you have any, you don't want to end up in a siege scenario with just shotguns.

 

The advantage of Acolytes is how you can model them. Otherwise Crusaders sound good but bare in mind that Crusaders can be modeled differently as well. To be honest the Aquila lander is probably protection enough. If I was an Inquisitor with a plane I wouldn't land until my objective was in my grasp.

 

The obvious Deathwatch power level efficiency scenario is terminators with melta guns and cyclone missile launchers. Personally I like all my Kill Teams (well, I have two including Cassius) to be proper mixed units but I didn't design my customized team to be used just to be a bunch of cool heroes I could ally in for Apocalypse games.

 

Deathwatch Veterans are effectively 40 points, so there's no reason to be shy about throwing upgrades on them. I have the same problem with my Chaos Terminators. Giving them all combi-meltas and chainfists would be abusive, using my normal 2000 point load out would be screwing myself over.

 

 

Assuming that you wanted to play as something other than Chaos then you have my sympathies.  When the original batch of tickets went on sale I was on the fence about going.  By the time I'd made my mind up to go (using Deathwatch), Imperial tickets had sold out.  I then had to make my mind up over whether to go with one of my other armies and by the time I decided to go with my Chaos Space Marines both Chaos and Invader tickets had sold out.  I was lucky enough to get an Imperial ticket when the second wave of tickets went on sale, thanks to getting up earlier than usual and waiting on the right page hitting F5 repeatedly.

 

I do have a penchant for magnets.  Although I've only assembled 16 models so far, back in 2016, I'd already magnetised a few things (left arms on Watch Sergeant and Bikers, to take Power Swords, Power Axes, Power Fists, or a Boltgun (for the Watch Sergeant), as well as magnetising the two different combi-weapon options on the standard Deathwatch arm).  I think the best thing about this event is that you're not forced into taking the same army for all of the games, meaning you can take more than 100 Power Levels worth of models and swap things out between rounds, as well as the flexibility that having magnets gives you.

 

I'm actually thinking that I probably won't take the Aquila Lander.  Whilst under previous editions it could have been a good choice, these days Inquisitors (as do most characters) seem to be best off at buffing things around them.  Although the Leadership bonus won't get used all that much (as it's the same as those of unit Sergeants), his one Telethesia Psychic Power seems to be about the only thing that he'll be good for, and he won't be able to use on the turn that the Lander drops out of the sky.  He'll have to march up the field alongside a Kill Team or ride in one of their transports, I feel.  As for bodyguards, I've really gone cold on the idea of them.  Acolytes are just way too squishy for their Power Level cost and whilst I can somewhat reconcile the other units with regards to my army's background, I don't really think I want to (especially without the Lander as the six-model limit was solely based on being transported by that).

 

I completely agree with your point about Chaos Terminators: on the one hand, taking an entire army of Power Level-abusive units is completely against the spirit of the event, but on the other hand taking an army based around a usually point-level-based set of units is likely going to lead to an 0-8 record.  I'm hoping that the advice given to me in this thread is going to help me strike a fine balance between the two, especially as most, if not all, of the Power Level-abusive units I build and paint will likely never see the light of day at my local store/club.

[Kolyarut]

Quick responses since I'm on my way to work;

 

Yes, units can share transports now, so long as you don't go over the model cap. A Blackstar with 18PL's worth of passengers is a pretty obvious target though...

 

Yes, you can have Primaris Deathwatch (but not Lieutenants or Gravis Captains) - source includes art of Deathwatch Inceptors - http://www.warhammerdigital.com/Downloads/Product/PDF/rules/ENG_Primaris_Marines_Release_04_July_29th_R853nm.pdf

 

The Lascannon kill team was news to me though, I didn't think that was possible either?

[robofish7591]

As far as I know, deathwatch still cannot take lascannons.  You could still take missiles, which are kind of like a poor man's lascannon.

[Closet Skeleton]

I completely agree with your point about Chaos Terminators: on the one hand, taking an entire army of Power Level-abusive units is completely against the spirit of the event, but on the other hand taking an army based around a usually point-level-based set of units is likely going to lead to an 0-8 record.  I'm hoping that the advice given to me in this thread is going to help me strike a fine balance between the two, especially as most, if not all, of the Power Level-abusive units I build and paint will likely never see the light of day at my local store/club.

 

I'm not that fussed about what I take and there's a noncompetitive chaos army I was looking for an excuse for anyway, it would just have been nice to have a choice. I don't even know what choice I'd have made anyway.

 

You can always bring the Lander anyway but there's nothing unfluffy about a Deathwatch escort.

 

Its 5 power level games and 3 500 point patrol games so you have that to think about as well.

[Irbis]

The Lascannon kill team was news to me though, I didn't think that was possible either?

 

Hmm, must have confused that with the other black-armoured multi-chapter marines then. Sorry, put my DW project on backburner for now waiting for CA, to not have to rip arms off if we get two changes I hope for, and it shows

[shandwen]

If you really want to stretch the power level abuse, kill teams with all combi-meltas and thunder hammers. They cost more points than any other combo (iirc).

But combi-plas and thunder hammers would be more useful.