New to DW need advice

[Plowboy22]

I just got the start collecting box. What’s everyone’s preferred load out for the kill teams? Also, what would you recommend getting next. I’m strictly a casual player and want to keep my army fluffy. Eventually I’d like to get up to around 2000pts.

Thanks in advance!

[IronDreddKnight]

The death watch starter pack is a very good place to start and expand on. I suggest a second starter box.

 

Veterans are very powerful and versatile troops. Storm bolter with chainsword or storm shield is the go to load out at the moment. With a frag cannon every now then. Other load outs are useful, but this is the strongest.

 

Anti tank sources are a little light in death Watch forces. Venerable dreadnoughts with twin lascannon are an excellent answer to this problem.

 

Now if you follow my advice on the second starter box, you’ll have 4 veteran (5man) squads, 2 venerable dreadnoughts and two Captain Artemis’.

 

Now obviously you can’t play 2 of the same character, so you have license to be creative and convert one (or if your like me, convert both!) into a watch captain. The jump pack, thunder hammer, storm shield load out of the favourite for any marine list.

 

This will give you a solid battalion to build from. The rest is completely how you want to play.

 

Hope you find this useful, welcome to the watch :)

[Plowboy22]

Thanks for the advice. I’ll get a second starter box and go from there. Being a purely casual player I’m more into painting and fluff than being competitive.

[Lemondish]

Keep in mind that the storm bolters and chainswords are the ultra competitive option and can not be found inside any Deathwatch kits. You'll need to buy other kits, third party bits, or seek them on bits sites.

 

As such, given you mentioned you are purely casual, I cannot second IronDreddKnights suggestions.

 

Since you're not super competitive, I'd suggest picking a role you want the unit to perform and focus on that. Some of the most fun parts about Deathwatch are the mixed teams, so consider picking up some Terminators, Bikes, and Vanguard Veterans.

[IronDreddKnight]

Storm bolters are the competitive build. However since I don’t play at tournaments, I proxy the bolt guns as my storm bolters. They’re 1 hand wielded just like the storm bolter, I’ve had no complaints from other players.

 

Worth considering since your a casual player like myself. We can still be optimal, if not wysiwyg :)

[Lemondish]

Storm bolters are the competitive build. However since I don’t play at tournaments, I proxy the bolt guns as my storm bolters. They’re 1 hand wielded just like the storm bolter, I’ve had no complaints from other players.

 

Worth considering since your a casual player like myself. We can still be optimal, if not wysiwyg :)

Sure, but WYSIWYG has more uses than just tournament rules. Your suggestion was storm bolters and chainswords, so would that be boltguns and chainswords, which I guess would mean power swords proxying too? Starts to get confusing.

 

But I didn't see that proxy approach mentioned, which in all fairness would change the suggestion from storm bolters to building the vets with bog standard boltguns, which is more in line with the request.

 

Would probably still suggest expanding your kill teams outside the bog standard vet personally, but a second get started kit would be prudent eventually anyway.

 

And if you're going casual, consider the Corvus - it's a great looking model and a truly iconic DW unit.

[Syward]

You could take a look at the Black Spear Strike Force - it has 2x 5 man veteran KTs, a Watch Master & the Corvus. Pair that with the Start Collecting: Deathwatch kit, and you''ll have a pretty fluffy Battalion right there.

 

Since you don't sound interested in min/maxing, I'd recommend building each KT with a specific purpose like Lemondish suggested. Although, if you end up with the Black Spear & Start Collecting set, you'll have enough Storm Shield to make one of your KT's w/5 SS, (with enough left over to sprinkle into your other KTs) so would recommend making 1 of your KTs a 5 man squad w/5 SS & 5 Storm Bolters (proxy the Bolters as SB) and pairing them with either the Capt or Watch Master and then Dread. Those 3 units together will give you a super tough and effective fire support base, then make your other 3 KTs with a specific purpose in mind. 

 

With those two kits, you'll have 4x Frag Cannons, which are a really powerful & flexible weapon, for our KTs, I'd recommend taking a look at how you could leverage them.  

 

*Full disclosure - my Deathwatch army is currently a pure Primaris force which I'll be adding Terminators & Standard Vets to at a later date

[Kargrym]

Make all the frag cannons, all the storm shields, all the stalker pattern bolters, and 1 Infernus Heavy Bolter. After that if you can acquire storm bolters, acquire them. up to you on the swords and hammers.

[Mr4Minutes]

There’s great advice in here. And with DeathWatch on a casual, there’s not too many wrong answers.

 

My suggestions, build all the storm shields. Whether it’s paired with a maul, a bolter, a Storm Bolter, etc doesn’t matter. We need those invulnerable saves.

 

A frag cannon or 2 is great in a squad.

 

Sgts with power weapons paired with a black shield with power weapons gives you a decent amount of ap CC attacks.

 

For building up, terminators are great in a squad. Being able to take wounds on different save values is a key DeathWatch strategy. Power sword / storm shield being the cheapest. But any variant gives you something.

 

Then you’ve got the vanguard vets and the bikes, which can be sprinkled in as needed/wanted.

 

And last, as you’ve probably already read, Twin las ven dreds are our best codex options for anti armor(my opinion). But, if you don’t mind going forge world, their dreds are superior to that.

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

A good melee option is watch Sergeant and Black Shield with thunderhammers... 6 attacks total.

[Syward]

The Start collecting kit and the Blackspear kit could give you something like this @ 1250pts (or less if you take a standard capt instead of Artimus and with room to add in TDA or VV) So plenty of room to grow up to 2000pts by adding things like more Venerable Dreads, & expanding your kill teams. A Librarian or two and a Smash Capt. would also be a good investment for expanding.

 

I'm also a huge fan of the Primaris Fortis KT set up with 5x Boltgun Intercessors, 4x Plasma Incinerator Hellblasters & 1x Plasma Exterminator Inceptor. These are super effective & deadly squads (especially if you DS them w/a Capt.) that more than make up for their points in kill counts. They make a great addition to any army IMO. 


++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Deathwatch) [70 PL, 8CP, 1179pts] ++
 

+ No Force Org Slot +
Battle-forged CP [3CP]
Detachment CP [5CP]
Reference: SIA Weapon Profiles
Use Beta Rules

+ HQ +
Watch Captain Artemis [7 PL, 130pts]
Watch Master [7 PL, 130pts]: Lord of Hidden Knowledge, Warlord

+ Troops +
Veterans [9 PL, 102pts]
1x Black Shield: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

1x Watch Sergeant: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

3x Veteran: Storm Bolter, Storm shield

Veterans [9 PL, 165pts]
1x Black Shield: Combi-melta, Power maul

1x Watch Sergeant: Combi-melta, Power maul

1x. Veteran: Boltgun, Storm shield
2x Veteran w/ Heavy Weapon: Deathwatch Frag Cannon
 

Veterans [9 PL, 165pts]
1x Black Shield: Combi-melta, Power maul

1x Watch Sergeant: Combi-melta, Power maul

1x. Veteran: Boltgun, Storm shield
2x Veteran w/ Heavy Weapon: Deathwatch Frag Cannon

 

Veterans [9 PL, 127pts]
1x Black Shield: Combi-plasma, Power sword

1x Watch Sergeant: Combi-plasma, Power sword

1x Veteran: Boltgun, Storm shield
2x Veteran w/ Heavy Weapon: Heavy bolter


+ Elites +
Venerable Dreadnought [8 PL, 140pts]: Missile launcher, Twin lascannon

+ Flyer +
Corvus Blackstar [12 PL, 220pts]: Auspex Array, Hurricane bolter, Twin lascannon
. 2x Blackstar Rocket Launchers: 2x Blackstar Rocket Launcher

++ Total: [70 PL, 8CP, 1179pts] ++

[IronDreddKnight]

 

Storm bolters are the competitive build. However since I don’t play at tournaments, I proxy the bolt guns as my storm bolters. They’re 1 hand wielded just like the storm bolter, I’ve had no complaints from other players.

 

Worth considering since your a casual player like myself. We can still be optimal, if not wysiwyg :)

Sure, but WYSIWYG has more uses than just tournament rules. Your suggestion was storm bolters and chainswords, so would that be boltguns and chainswords, which I guess would mean power swords proxying too? Starts to get confusing.

 

But I didn't see that proxy approach mentioned, which in all fairness would change the suggestion from storm bolters to building the vets with bog standard boltguns, which is more in line with the request.

 

Would probably still suggest expanding your kill teams outside the bog standard vet personally, but a second get started kit would be prudent eventually anyway.

 

And if you're going casual, consider the Corvus - it's a great looking model and a truly iconic DW unit.

I was originally proxying the power swords as chain swords, I was just telling my opponent they were chain swords. It was never a problem, BG/PS = SS/CS. They’re basic mechanics and aesthetics are similar enough. And as I said before, I’ve had no issues from players :)

 

That being said, I have acquired chainswords from the mark 3 tactical squad and they replaced the power swords on my vets. I do draw the line attempting to get 30+ storm bolters from other kits, eBay or 3rd party sites. It gets expensive and to be honest, I don’t like how bulky the storm bolter looks. The compact bolt guns provided are just more pleasing.

 

Fluff wise, if we can make automatic pistols in 2019, we can definitely make a compact rapid fire storm bolter in 40,000. We are death Watch after all, we get the best tech ;)

[Lemondish]

 

 

Storm bolters are the competitive build. However since I don’t play at tournaments, I proxy the bolt guns as my storm bolters. They’re 1 hand wielded just like the storm bolter, I’ve had no complaints from other players.

 

Worth considering since your a casual player like myself. We can still be optimal, if not wysiwyg

Sure, but WYSIWYG has more uses than just tournament rules. Your suggestion was storm bolters and chainswords, so would that be boltguns and chainswords, which I guess would mean power swords proxying too? Starts to get confusing.

 

But I didn't see that proxy approach mentioned, which in all fairness would change the suggestion from storm bolters to building the vets with bog standard boltguns, which is more in line with the request.

 

Would probably still suggest expanding your kill teams outside the bog standard vet personally, but a second get started kit would be prudent eventually anyway.

 

And if you're going casual, consider the Corvus - it's a great looking model and a truly iconic DW unit.

I was originally proxying the power swords as chain swords, I was just telling my opponent they were chain swords. It was never a problem, BG/PS = SS/CS. They’re basic mechanics and aesthetics are similar enough. And as I said before, I’ve had no issues from players

 

That being said, I have acquired chainswords from the mark 3 tactical squad and they replaced the power swords on my vets. I do draw the line attempting to get 30+ storm bolters from other kits, eBay or 3rd party sites. It gets expensive and to be honest, I don’t like how bulky the storm bolter looks. The compact bolt guns provided are just more pleasing.

 

Fluff wise, if we can make automatic pistols in 2019, we can definitely make a compact rapid fire storm bolter in 40,000. We are death Watch after all, we get the best tech

 

 

I use power swords elsewhere that should be real power swords, not chainswords. Likewise I have boltguns around my collection that should act as boltguns instead of storm bolters. t works for you, so absolutely go with it, but it is so limiting it seems. Can't ever add an Intercessor with a power swords, for example, without breaking your simple rule there. I think it's a bit too limiting. But my point was (sorry it wasn't clear) that a second Deathwatch kit probably isn't always the best choice for a casual player - just as storm bolters and chainswords aren't a great suggestion either (without explaining the proxy component, its pros and cons, etc.)

 

I think the best part about Deathwatch is exploring all the awesome different weapons, unit builds, etc. So that's why I suggest branching out into the rest of the range first - bikes, termies, vanguard vets - all will bring some cool modeling, painting, and kitbashing potential alongside some fun rules you'll miss out on if you're just going full bore with the meta picks. 

 

Obviously we're just giving competing anecdotal evidence about proxying and counts-as, so it isn't really all that valuable - to the OP, just be careful how you build your models so you aren't adding a boatload of complication where one squad has counts-as chainswords that look like power swords while another squad has power swords that act as real power swords, etc. The simpler you can make it, the better it is, but it will limit your choices a ton. 

[IronDreddKnight]

@ Lemondish the advice is appreciated :)

[Plowboy22]

I want thank everyone for their advice. It’s great to see a community offer up help. Since I’m strictly casual my next purchases will be another starter box and Corvus. Once that’s all built and painted I’ll figure out my next step. Once again thanks to everyone for your input! I greatly appreciate it.

[Lemondish]

I want thank everyone for their advice. It’s great to see a community offer up help. Since I’m strictly casual my next purchases will be another starter box and Corvus. Once that’s all built and painted I’ll figure out my next step. Once again thanks to everyone for your input! I greatly appreciate it.

Can't wait to hear your experiences!