Deathwatch with mostly Firstborn?

[Ulfast]

Hello fellow DW players. I´m at the moment a bit nostalgic of me and I´m thinking it would be fun to start a DW army but built with mostly firstborn marines, like DW veterans, terminators etc. But is this a good option? Or is it a fool quest? I´m not thinking to take the army to any tournament, only to play against friends but I still would like to win a game or so from time to time. From what I understand it should be possibly as many good units are firstborn but will I miss to much from the primaris range?

[Duke Danse Macabre]

To be honest the first born in DW are the strongest in my optician and offer the most flexibility.

you want combat, you have vanguard vets, you want shooting you have have storm Bolters and Frag cannons out the wazoo, you need anti tank and your considering erradicators, take assault centurions, they don’t need to be baby sat, do as much damage but will also charge in and smash face not withstanding their better armour, wounds and small arms for a small difference in points.

 

I have my DW designed and built into 6 companies, I’m a little over the top and it’s a work in progress as painting takes forever but I have 3 companies of firstborn and 3 Primaris so I have the flexibility but when it comes to base Primaris you have better options elsewhere allot of the time.

DW do have a golden ability to mix squads to help negate damage on the models we want to keep alive which do make them viable still but for flavour and flexibility firstborn are better kitted and more everything.

 

Just don’t buy into the only army of renown is the way to win.

you learn the army well and you will still win, I have a roughly 90% win rate and I use Corvus’s because I like them and that’s agains tau, Eldar, chaos and necrons. Don’t get bogged down too much with the current rules shifting every 5 minutes, pick something you like and really have a drive to do as you will need that to see it to completion and it will be that much more satisfying for it.

 

If your thinking first born think what you want and what the army needs to function and build around those key areas else wise   your likely to get bogged down with units that don’t see play and sit on your to do list judging you.

 

model wise if you aim for 10 jump infantry, 20 regular, 10 terminators all with gear without transports your already in the 1300 point range, start there and see where you go.

[Ulfast]

So nice to hear from you Duke Danse Macabre. I was almost giving up on someone answering my questions. It´s sounds great that a lot of the firstborn actually work and also good. That it what I´m planing so it´s good news. Intersting thought also about centurions. I had not thought about them. But as I read your words, now I cant stop :)

 

I like what you said about amount of troops to get to have a good base to build the rest of the army on. I will try to reach that and after that move to other units. 

 

What is your toughts about razorbacks? I was thinking one or two to use as both transport and shooting anti-tank.

[Duke Danse Macabre]

The forums seemed to of died allot in recent years, I’m not sure why but now I only check back every month or so and don’t bother updating the Plog as I was the only person talking most the time.

that said sorr6 for the slow reply but as said I’m rarely here these days for the above mentioned reasons.

 

Get a couple of centurion kits and Mag them and your laughing.

The assault centurion variant is better but 6 Melta rounds, a hail of hurricane Bolters,2+ 4 wound toughness 5 and can comfortably kill a dread in a single round of combat, yes you pay 75 points more for 3 over eradicators and you don’t have core for buffs but you also don’t take minuses and means you don’t need to invest points into baby sitting or buffing them.

 

I have a couple of Razorbacks and I do rate them but they rarely live with anti tank what it is now.

they are better with plasma over assault canons as you don’t lack anti infantry fire power but are good at keeping your guys alive long enough for them to do the damage they need.

If you get them though I heavily advise against gluing the top hatch on, keep it loose so you can swap out for a rhino top door.

Best transports are still Corvus if using the expensive strat but can be really potent and the assault drill with a 10 man squad with infernus heavy Bolters at the ready.

A Melta tank that deep strikes, is as tough as a landraider and can fight will combined with a double centurion deepstrike turn 2 is very much a hammer and anvil move with the added bonus of turn 3 getting out and really starting to bring the pain as they are saturated by targets.

as a rule of thumb though for first born they do better when combined with a transport, not because they are softer but because they often have more utility, cost more and have a cheaper wide range of transports.

one option you could also explore is using the heresy Scorpius tank top on a razorback (cheaper and much less to paint) to pull your enemy towards you and just bunker down till you are ready to drop in and strike where you want, with our psychic lore making units untargetable but stagger characters or other units can often make the enemy move close and pull them out of formation where you can exploit the openings. This is where you have the advantage because with the transports, flyers, deep striking, jump infantry,bikes and teleport homers you can be where you want when you want.

 

Have you gave much more thought to the army you are working towards, I always think aim for 1800 points without characters and after that is just other options.

3 x 10 man kill teams with gear sets me back 895, add 2 corvus and 2 Razorbacks and it’s 1505, just as an example it shouldn’t take long and start planning it will be much easier to star5 getting bits done.

[Bloody Legionnaire]

I don't think you'll miss much from the primaris range.. but that just comes from my other collections as I have not played a game with my death watch yet. If you aren't playing tournaments/competitive warhammer 40k, then you really should just do what you want. That being said, it doesn't look like there anything about the "firstborn" units that are worse than their primaris counterparts. In some ways they are even better and offer more flexibility.

 

I wouldn't be concerned from a collection stand point either. DW came out just before 8th at the end of 7th and just before Primaris. They are too new to worry about being replaced or losing rules or anything like that. Also, while I can't confirm this, I did read from someone on reddit that alleged a GW employee confirmed grey knights would not be receiving the primaris treatment. That IMO gives some more hope for DW firstborn options.