Deathwatch success stories and more!

[Trollbeard]

Hey guys! I am having a lot of fun with the new codex for deathwatch! I hadn’t played them at all in 8th until the codex dropped and had only played a few times at the end of 7th, and I gotta say I really like where they are at!

 

My other main faction that I play is nurgle demons which to me feels very opposite to how deathwatch play with our limited model count and low ish durability. But it is a refreshing change to be able to shoot things lol! I really enjoy the combos you can do with the mission tactics and the +1 wound stratagems!

 

So I wanted to share some of my recent successes and stand out units in my games!! And I also wanted to hear what units you guys have been having success with!

 

So to start I haven’t played very many games but I’ve played 1K sons, DE, and necrons. And I haven’t l lost yet!

 

Some stand out units that have done some good work is the Corvus black star with the infernum halo launcher, the additional -1 to hit against enemies with fly is super awesome, lots of flyers at that point are at -3 if they move with heavy weapons!

 

I recently had a Fortis kill team of 5 intercessors and 4 inceptors kill Magnus in a round of shooting with the help of a storm bolter veteran squad, but the inceptors being able to fire 2D3 shots is insane! I had 17 overcharged hits on him and was able to take him out easily!

 

Storm bolters vets are awesome with the deep strike stratagem! 4 shots per model is huge with SIA.

 

I have found that most of the time the Hellfire rounds are sufficient for most targets, with the other ammo types being not as effective IMO, although the kraken round is nice on stalker bolters for 36” range.

 

Sorry for the long post! If you read it I hope

You can share some of your experiences!!

[Inquisitor Red]

Good to hear! Storm bolter vets deep striking are no joke, I've been adding a Watch Master with mine and they kill any that gets into the 12" range. 

[BrotherAetherick]

Deep striking leviathan dreads with storm cannon arrays is quite possibly one of the strongest options in the army. The ability to delete a unit per turn and protect it from alpha strikes is incredible.

[Trollbeard]

Deep striking leviathan dreads with storm cannon arrays is quite possibly one of the strongest options in the army. The ability to delete a unit per turn and protect it from alpha strikes is incredible.

I did exactly that with a leviathan dread in one of my games against 1K sons and Magnus, I obliterated a mutalith void beast with him in one turn, and being able to use the wound strats along with mission tactics was absolute gold!

[xenomortis]

My current tactic is to teleport my leviathan dreadnought, hellblasters and watch master in and remove something. I also usually include a jump pack librarian that drops in at the same time and casts Might of Heroes and Veil of Time on the dread.

 

Couple this with the Tome of Ectoclades, the watch masters rerolls to hit and the -1 to wound stratagems and it's is a very potent little bubble.

 

Backfield I usually include a squad of 6 veterans with 5 stalker pattern boltguns and a heavy bolter. They consistently cause damage on infantry and the HB is a good source of mortal wounds.

 

I also run a squad of 5 intercessors, 3 aggressors and 2 reivers all equipped with assault weapons which do well mid table. Last game they killed a Khorne daemon prince and 3 deathshroud terminators from shooting and combat.

 

All of the above is standard in my lists. I then mix it up with other veteran squads, ven dread, corvus and allied scions depending on points.

[Trollbeard]

My current tactic is to teleport my leviathan dreadnought, hellblasters and watch master in and remove something. I also usually include a jump pack librarian that drops in at the same time and casts Might of Heroes and Veil of Time on the dread.

 

Couple this with the Tome of Ectoclades, the watch masters rerolls to hit and the -1 to wound stratagems and it's is a very potent little bubble.

 

Backfield I usually include a squad of 6 veterans with 5 stalker pattern boltguns and a heavy bolter. They consistently cause damage on infantry and the HB is a good source of mortal wounds.

 

I also run a squad of 5 intercessors, 3 aggressors and 2 reivers all equipped with assault weapons which do well mid table. Last game they killed a Khorne daemon prince and 3 deathshroud terminators from shooting and combat.

 

All of the above is standard in my lists. I then mix it up with other veteran squads, ven dread, corvus and allied scions depending on points.

How many hell blasters do you run?? And I’m assuming this is to unlock the relic leviathan? I used the rapier artillery pieces last game with quad launchers, they were quite good for their price point, and they can target units not visible

To them.

 

How do the hell blasters do?? Does the dreadnaught take most of the fire that would

Be directed to them??

[xenomortis]

Depends on points. At 2k+ I usually field a Mortis Dreadnought with 2x Twin Lascannons to unlock the Relic Leviathan and then field 5 x Hellblasters with 5 x Intercessors as a troop choice. The Intercessors act as ablative wounds and a screen.

 

In lower point games (<1850) I just run 5 hellblasters as a Heavy Support Choice.

 

Generally people just want to remove the dread so the hellblasters go a little bit under the radar. They can be devastating against T7 and even T8 vehicles when buffed by the watchmasters rerolls, mission tactics and doctrines.

 

I play vs Tau a lot! A couple of games a go I brought this bubble in and removed 2 hammerheads and stripped the last few wounds from a ghostkeel. It pretty much made my opponent pump all fire into this bubble allowing the rest of my army to take advantage.

[Drizzt79]

Depends on points. At 2k+ I usually field a Mortis Dreadnought with 2x Twin Lascannons to unlock the Relic Leviathan and then field 5 x Hellblasters with 5 x Intercessors as a troop choice. The Intercessors act as ablative wounds and a screen.

 

In lower point games (<1850) I just run 5 hellblasters as a Heavy Support Choice.

 

Generally people just want to remove the dread so the hellblasters go a little bit under the radar. They can be devastating against T7 and even T8 vehicles when buffed by the watchmasters rerolls, mission tactics and doctrines.

 

I play vs Tau a lot! A couple of games a go I brought this bubble in and removed 2 hammerheads and stripped the last few wounds from a ghostkeel. It pretty much made my opponent pump all fire into this bubble allowing the rest of my army to take advantage.

Do your opponents use lots of shield drones? If so what is the best way to get rid of them in your opinion?

[xenomortis]

Yes he uses them a lot . Weight of fire is key! Don't waste high S single shots on stuff like riptides when they're surrounded by shield drones.

 

Twin assault cannons are good, aggressors pumping out dozens of shots are good, even intercessors and standard veterans with Hellfire rounds work well. Make your opponent roll the saves. Weapons like meltas and lascannons are completely wasted.

[Drizzt79]

Yes he uses them a lot :down:. Weight of fire is key! Don't waste high S single shots on stuff like riptides when they're surrounded by shield drones.

 

Twin assault cannons are good, aggressors pumping out dozens of shots are good, even intercessors and standard veterans with Hellfire rounds work well. Make your opponent roll the saves. Weapons like meltas and lascannons are completely wasted.

Thanks for the reply.

My opponent is using 20+ shield drones....and all the battlesuits are covered by a bubble of cheap infantry (kroots, fwarriors), so not easy to reach also....basically he has a multilayer castle

 

I’m building SB/SS veterans for more resiliance and dakka. Maybe would be good to use some eversor or callidus assassins to get rid of some markerlights quickly.

Then I plan to field some distraction for him to shoot at, as an imperial knight or a leviathan dread.

 

Anyways not easy at all!

[Trollbeard]

How are you guys building your primaris kill teams? I’ve tried a 5 man intercessor with 1 aggressor and one inceptors and 3 hell blasters, but it felt clunky and too generalized, it was decent at taking out some infantry but didn’t have many plasma shots. And this team was almost 350 points.

 

I actually found a squad with 5 intercessors and 4 inceptors to be quite good, if a little expensive, but having that many plasma shots come from 4 models was quite surprising for my opponent.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I run five intercessors with two plasma Inceptors an deep strike them - great unit.

[MadEdric]

I'm currently running two Fortis killteams. Both are 5 Intercessors, 2-3 Hellblasters, and 1 plasma Inceptor.

Both get placed in the Teleportarium along side my stormbolter killteam.

[Lemondish]

How are you guys building your primaris kill teams? I’ve tried a 5 man intercessor with 1 aggressor and one inceptors and 3 hell blasters, but it felt clunky and too generalized, it was decent at taking out some infantry but didn’t have many plasma shots. And this team was almost 350 points.

 

I actually found a squad with 5 intercessors and 4 inceptors to be quite good, if a little expensive, but having that many plasma shots come from 4 models was quite surprising for my opponent.

 

I build for roles, so mixing in only those Primaris that meet the job I'm intending for them. I've approached them in two ways previously - max size units to ensure the biggest bang for the buck on doctrines, and smaller units meant for board control and screening.

 

Lately I've been running large numbers of auto bolt rifle Intercessor squads of 5 men with 1 aggressor to act in place of scouts/guardsmen as my board and screening control elements. At 142 points each I recently started running 5 such squads that bring super mobile, SIA spitting death that could cover a lot of ground and flood the board with 60 T4, 2+ in cover wounds and dakka for days. They ended up being a might more durable than I expected, and they held their own pretty solidly in combat thanks to the power fists hidden in each unit. Most of my opponents have a solution for Primaris marines. Rarely do they have a solution for facing 30 bodies spread across 5 units.

But prior to that I fell in love with much larger units because of the massive impact doctrines can have. I liked the 5 Intercessor, 4 bolter Aggressors, and 1 bolter Inceptor unit for a mid field lockdown role that ended up majority T5, 2+ in cover, with enough ablative wounds to let 4 Aggressors fire twice almost guaranteed. Both this and the above fill the traditional Intercessor 'get in the way and annoy the crap out of the enemy Infantry' role, but with killing power and mobility far above what normal Astartes bring. Adding a doctrine here gave them a lot of flexibility against a vast array of targets.

 

The traditional 5 Intercessor, 4 Hellblaster, 1 Plasma Inceptor unit is basically just used as a traditional Hellblaster unit with tons of ablative wounds that can't get locked down in combat, thus removing two of the biggest issues with Hellblasters for Codex forces. 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

"The traditional 5 Intercessor, 4 Hellblaster, 1 Plasma Inceptor unit is basically just used as a traditional Hellblaster unit with tons of ablative wounds that can't get locked down in combat, thus removing two of the biggest issues with Hellblasters for Codex forces."

 

No Ultramarines .

[Lemondish]

"The traditional 5 Intercessor, 4 Hellblaster, 1 Plasma Inceptor unit is basically just used as a traditional Hellblaster unit with tons of ablative wounds that can't get locked down in combat, thus removing two of the biggest issues with Hellblasters for Codex forces."

 

No Ultramarines .

 

Well, of course. Forgot about that - still, being able to fall back and overcharge without doubling your chance of pasting yourself is nice. I honestly always forget about Ultras (even though my blood ravens played ultra tactics every now and again) because I never see them in my local scene outside of parking lot Razorback spam Rowboat. 

 

But for the vast majority of marine army options, getting Hellblasters locked in combat by someone driving a Wave Serpent into you is a pain - best to avoid it if you can spare the points (or are okay with that outcome). 

[Paulinus]

I normally have 1 primaris team.

 

5 Intercessors

4 Aggressors (fragstorm type)

1 inceptor

 

I'll sometimes switch out the inceptor for another aggressor for more fire power if needed and they can dish out a lot of overwatch if they get charged.

 

Basically it gives me a T5 unit and a pile of str 4 shots.  add the plus one to wound stratagem and it can be really deadly for most things. 

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I can only afford one Fortis Kill Team wow they are so good but I run three detachments .

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Had a game yesterday versus Blood Angels-Guard-Salamanders; I was running Blood Angels-Deathwatch-Custodes. My opponent has three battalions and I have two ballations (BA & DW) and a Vanguard (Custodians). We were playing one of the ITC Missions with five objectives - one in the center of each table quarter and one in the center of the table. Deployment was diaganol table quarters and you couldn’t deploy with 9" of the table center.

 

Here’s my abbreviated list:

 

-BA-

Captain - Angel’s Wings (relic) Stormshield - Thunderhammer /WLT Artisan of War /Death Visions of Sanguinius

Captain - Jump Pack - Stormshield - Hammer of Baal (relic)

 

5x Scout - Bolt Pistols & Combat Blades

5x Scout - Bolt Pistols & Combat Blades

5x Scout - Bolt Pistols & Combat Blades

 

-DW-

Watch Master - Tome of Ectolclades (relic)

Watch Captain - Jump Pack - Thunderhammer - Storm Bolter - Bane Bolts (relic)

 

4x Intercessor - Bolt Rifles & Auxiliary Grenade Launcher

Intercessor Sergeant - Bolt Rifle & Power Sword

2x Plasma Inceptor

 

2x Veteran - Storm Bolters & Chainswords

Black Shield - Storm Shield & Power Sword

Watch Sergeant - Storm Bolter & Power Axe

Veteran - Deathwatch Frag Cannon

Veteran - Infernus Heavy Bolter

 

2x Veteran - Storm Bolters & Chainswords

Black Shield - Storm Shield & Power Sword

Watch Sergeant - Storm Bolter & Power Axe

Veteran - Deathwatch Frag Cannon

 

-Custodes-

Shield-Captain on Dawneagle - Auric Aquilas (relic)

 

4x Allarus Custodian - Castellan Axes

 

4x Warden - 3x Castellan Axe & Guardian Spear

 

Vexilla Praetor - Guardian Spear - Vexilla Magnifica

 

 

My opponent had the following (best guess from memory):

 

-BA-

Captain - Angel’s Wings (relic) Stormshield - Thunderhammer /WLT Gift of Foresight /Death Visions of Sanguinius

Mephiston

 

5x Scout - Bolt Pistols & Combat Blades

5x Scout - Bolt Pistols & Combat Blades

5x Scout - Bolt Pistols & Combat Blades

 

9x Death Company Marine - Jump Packs - 4x Chainsword - 5x Power Sword

15x Death Company Marine - Jump Packs - Chainswords & Thunderhammers

 

-IG-

Commander

Commander

 

9x Guardsman & Mortar Team

9x Guardsman & Mortar Team

9x Guardsman & Mortar Team

 

Wyvern

 

-Salamanders-

Captain - Bike - Thunderhammer

Librarian - Force Stave

 

4x Tactical Marine - Lascannon

Sergeant - Bolter

 

4x Tactical Marine - Lascannon

Sergeant - Bolter

 

4x Tactical Marine - Lascannon

Sergeant - Bolter

 

4x Devastator - 2x Missile Launcher - 2x Lascannon - Armored Cherub

Sergeant - Bolter - Signum

 

 

I finished deploying first, won the roll off and chose to go second. There was a big piece of line of sight blocking terrain right in the middle of the table so I wasn’t too worried about the lascannons and rockets deploying everything out of line of sight; I held the following units in deep strike reserve:

 

BA Captain - Hammer of Baal

Watch Captain

Fortis Killteam (Primaris)

Allarus Custodians

Wardens

 

I knew I had to get rid of those two Death Company squads... my opponent held the Thunderhammer squad in reserve along with his Captain and deployed the Power Sword squad as close as possible. I deployed my scouts to Wall off my Deathwatch units from a first turn charge. Deathwatch Vets and Watch Master were inside a building and the Praetor was behind them. My opponent deployed his Devs on top of a building in the rear of his deployment zone with the Wyvern behind a building, sprinkling the guardsmen and Marines all around to block out deep strikes. Mephiston deployed up front too. His Salamander characters deployed back to the rear.

 

I did not attempt to seize. My opponent used a strategem to scout move the Death Company moving past the big building in the middle of the table.

 

-1st Turn Opponent

Death Company moved up surrounding my Scouts. Mephiston first cast Wings and moved up on top of the building then attempted to cast a psychic power on the Death Company for +1 attack but failed. Mortars and Wyverns fired killing a few scouts opening up a couple holes so his Death Company could assault into the building with my Deathwatch inside. His charge was around 6-7" so he couldn’t get into base contact with much of my Vets. He didn’t roll that well to hit and wound... a few scouts survived and he only killed a couple Vets. My counter assault was much better taking out 7 Death Company then the last two fled the battle due to morale. One down and one to go.

 

-1st Turn Me

I moved up my Vets to shoot Mephiston and the Shield-Captain flew up behind the building so he could shoot some guardsmen. I brought in the Fortis Killteam and Watch Captain to lend some more fire power into Mephiston. I positioned my surviving scouts to screen and block off deep strikes as best as possible for the next turn. My Praetor ran into the little building in the back moving up to the second level. Mephiston got blown out of his boots but it took the Fortis Killteam to finally finish him off. The Shield-Captain killed 5-6 guardsmen.

 

I was up on points at the end of the turn having killed more units and scored two secondaries.

 

 

-2nd Turn Opponent

The guard that got shot up moved back and the other units held still. In came the big Death Company plus his Captain... ouch. There was some more artillery barrage from the mortars and Wyvern... they may have killed a couple scouts collectively. Note my Vets and Fortis Killteam were in cover for the sweet 2+ save. :)

 

So onto the big assault phase... the Captain failed his charge and took a couple wounds for his troubles lol - my Vets were able to drop around five to six Death Company on overwatch... gotta love those frag cannons !!! The Fortis Killteam was slaughtered to the last Marine but again I only lost a couple Vets thanks to the storm shields and my Watch Captain also got smashed to death. My Watch Master was able to heroically intervene and overall follow up attacks from the survivors accounted for several more Death Company. My opponent’s dice were pretty bad again but he finally did some damage. The last of Death Company lost a couple more to morale only leaving two to three left.

 

-2nd Turn Me

My Shield-Captain and Warlord both moved to tangle with my opponent’s Captain while my Praetor moved in to finish off the last of the Death Company. Vets fell back so I could shoot them with other units. I opted to keep the rest of my reserves off the table. I wiped out both the Captain and Death Company increasing my lead on points. I really felt like I was in a good position now having eliminated all the major threats.

 

Summary of remaining turns:

The third turn I brought in my reserves over on my opponent’s left flank and they pretty much rolled right up it by the end of the game for a commanding win.

[Kallas]

-2nd Turn Opponent

The guard that got shot up moved back and the other units held still. In came the big Death Company plus his Captain... ouch. [snip]

 

So onto the big assault phase... the Captain failed his charge and took a couple wounds for his troubles lol - my Vets were able to drop around five to six Death Company on overwatch... gotta love those frag cannons !!!

How did Deep Striking Death Company lose models to the Frag Cannon (presumably referring to the auto-hit) when they must be more than 9" away and thus out of range?

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

I had two left and rolled three sixes.

[Qui-Gon]

So, firing on shell round mode and just got obscenely lucky?

[Paulinus]

One would have to be if dropping 5-6 DC marines on overwatch. 

One unit so far that has done ok for me is a J-Pack Smashcaptain with stormbolter and thunderhammer.  With the banebolts he can loose off a lot of shots/wounds.  coupled with the +1 to wound it makes him deadly at range.  Mind you it might just be luck.

[Qui-Gon]

When he can generate a mortal wound 1/3 per shot plus re-rolls...our smash captain is scary on the ranged and then he runs in. Nothing terrible there.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Bane bolts are absolutely amazing !