[DW/SM] Spectre of Ullanor (OOC/Discussion)

[Mazer Rackham]

Hi Grail,

 

I was going to shoot you a pm and ask how you were fixed, but if you're really stuck, I understand that life is life, and you've got priorities. Helping you set up a character is not a problem if you want to store him away and have another look later - this game won't kick off until some time in Orktober, so there is wiggle room if you're still interested.

 

I/We can handle that crunch for you as promised. I apologise if you've felt left adrift. 

 

On the MM and party dynamics, don't worry about that. Tension in the games comes from personal friction - and it was set up that way since you're Marines and on't talk to Oomans much, so it all has to come from within. Nothing would get too outrageous, just a hard look or little barb here and there, all IC and above board, and I'd be on hand to smooth everything anyway. It's no sweat.

 

If anyone is likewise having trouble they can shout up to me and I will do my best to help.

 

Any help, Grail?

[Lysimachus]

Likewise, I really enjoy the character creation process*, so I'm happy to help anyone who hasn't got time for (or just isn't bothered about) that side of things!

 

 

 

*so much so that for funsies I found myself this morning expanding the Marines Malevolent bits Mazer posted a few pages back into the following:

 

Marines Malevolent in Deathwatch

 

Chapter Demeanour: Aloof (RoB: p100)
Chapter Traits: +5 Ballistic Skill, +5 WP, -5 Fel

 

Marines Malevolent Advances
Survival   …200xp
Survival +10   …300xp
Survival +20   …400xp
Evaluate   …400xp
Evaluate +10   …600xp
Evaluate +20   …600xp
Hatred (Mutants)   …500xp
Abhor the Witch   …800xp
Paranoia   …500xp
Iron Discipline   …500xp
Target Selection*   …500xp

 

*perfect for those 'friendly fire' situations! 

 

Chapter Trapping: The Marines Malevolent have a reputation for ‘repurposing’ wargear belonging to other Chapters. As such, a MM Character may select any available Chapter Trapping. However, should the character cross paths with Astartes of the Chapter that the Trapping belonged to (or worse yet, be assigned to a Kill-Team beside one of them!) it will undoubtedly have serious consequences, as determined by the GM. Examples could include negative mods to Fel-based tests, or even subtracting Cohesion Points from the squad.

 

 

 

[grailkeeper]

Thanks all. 

 

IF someone else wants to make my character perhaps I could play. I just dont have much of  head for maths at the minute!

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

We'll get him sorted for you.

 

Got a name for this rapscallion?

[Machine God]

18 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

We'll get him sorted for you.

 

Got a name for this rapscallion?

 

Morris the Malevolent Marine 

 

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

18 minutes ago, Machine God said:

Morris the Malevolent Marine 

 

Has a ring to it, but I'd think it would be 'Maurice' of we were going down that road..!

[Trokair]

On 8/12/2025 at 11:44 PM, Trokair said:

So, who else has been scouring their bits box (and eBay) for some useful parts to make their character? 

 

Further to this I have gathered together some parts.

 

 

Ignore the fact that that is a quarter of a century (or thereabouts) old chaos bike, I will de-chaos it and add some scout bike bits I had to make it into something passable.

 

As for Kur-Dawa himself, managed to get a Forgeworld Beaky Helmet from the White Scare head kit. I had intended to use some bits from the new Grand Cathay kits, but turns out I used most of the bit I had in mind on the actual army, but there are still a few bits I might be able to use. To make up for the lack of Cathay bits I also had a look though the Sigmarmarine bits as some have a lighting theme/decoration on them that I thought might be on theme.

[Mazer Rackham]

Looks fast and choppy, which will be handy.

[Trokair]

A little update, I still need to figure out how to paint Kur-Dawa as I haven’t done a White Scars before and white is known to be an awkward colour to paint.

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Looks fantastic.

 

With white, I'm no expert, but for speed (ha!) I spray the model with Grey Seer, then drybrush white. If you want to make the white look brighter, add weathering, dirty it up, and the pale colour looks better. My Medicae Rhino is painted that way.

 

 

Here you can see the white edge highlight from the drybrush, but otherwise overall, the 'scheme' is a neutral/cold white. The bright reds and yellows lift the scheme, dropping the white into background.

 

Edited August 24 by Mazer Rackham
Spelling - my God, man..!

[Machine God]

On 8/24/2025 at 1:17 PM, Trokair said:

A little update, I still need to figure out how to paint Kur-Dawa as I haven’t done a White Scars before and white is known to be an awkward colour to paint.

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Think yourself lucky I've got a halved colour scheme to paint! 

 

 

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

In addition to the bits and pieces, for the sake of the Campaign only...and since I'm building Grail's Chargen sheet...

• Our Marine Malevolent receives the following Talent:
  • Rival (Salamanders)
• Our Salamanders receives the following Talent:
  • Rival (Marines Malevolent)

Note that the costs for these does not contribute to the XP Advance for each Character and is a GM Award. They generally force a -10 Interaction Penalty to dealing with the rival party - since this really only applies to Command Tests, Persuasion etc, it shouldn't be too much of a burden. Players are encouraged to make note of this within narrative, but remember too they are Marines in a desperate situation, and thus should only come to blows if the occasion gets WILD.

 

The latter will be agreed between PLAYERS.

 

I'm sure they will be fast friends over burning certain varieties of alien progeny...in fact, I would invite both Players to have an open and honest discussion about how far they want to go with this. We set boundaries for a reason - have a chat here or PM, guys, and let me know what the state of play is.

 

@grailkeeper I've given your lad Rapid Reload (reloading is a half-action), No Quarter (+3 WS, Counter-attack) I thought appropriate, and Survival (Know about plants, shelter, ekeing out rations etc).

 

I was wondering do you want any kind of Special Wargear, like a Power Sword, a Plasma Pistol etc, since I can take that for you? Your Agility is currently 48. I could buy a +5 upgrade for this and give you a 50/50 chance of a Dodge, but it's kind of one or the other.

 

Either would leave you with 100xp left over, which we could bank, on spend on a Talent which lets you use (but not have) a jump-pack.

 

Preferences? Feel free to throw an idea or two at me of how you see your laddo doing things, and we can re-jig it a bit, if you'd like. Otherwise your Stats are pretty average - feel free to pick something from Lysi's list above.

 

Edited Tuesday at 11:23 PM by Mazer Rackham

[A.T.]

8 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

• Our Salamanders receives the following Talent:
  • Rival (Marines Malevolent)

 

The Salamander is not angry... he is disappointed.

(caber-tosses the marine malevolent)

 

 

On a related subject tactical marines are the one class early on that can get access to a field save, but it would cost Grail his counter attack so far from an automatic pick. For a bolter specialist ammo, scopes, storm bolters and/or perhaps even a 'borrowed' hesh bolter (accurate and very damaging for a high BS character).

[Mazer Rackham]

1 hour ago, A.T. said:

...perhaps even a 'borrowed' hesh bolter...

Spoiler

Not on the table at face value, I'm afraid. It never even crossed my mind that it would ever be requested (for the reasons below), which is why I was tripped up earlier. To me, they are too good, and that is the reason they're locked behind this:

 

From the FAQ 1.1:

'These weapons cannot be requisitioned and are unique to the Ultramarines in service to Deathwatch. Other Deathwatch Space Marines
may only come into possession of one of these weapons through role-playing.'

 

Have to be UM, have to be DW, option to obtain via RP. Even if using the argument that UM Successors use UM Chargen, I don't think it sticks. Even if it did, you aren't DW, so it falls there.

 

My refusal stems from the RAW, and the effects. A boltgun with range that can be offset wih Kraken rounds (free magazine), a gun which has a scope with TWO functions, is Accurate, and Reliable (Master Crafted!), at Rank 1?

 

In my mind, it should be treated as a campaign reward. Someone might mention the Raptors Chapter Trapping, which has two functions and does other wacky crap - indeed, but that is again Chapter only, and it doesn't come with a free submachine gun.

 

TL;DR = GM Says 'Sorry, but no'.

 

Edited Wednesday at 09:39 AM by Mazer Rackham

[A.T.]

1 hour ago, Mazer Rackham said:

TL;DR = GM Says 'Sorry, but no'.

 

(Innocently puts a Dark Angels weapon charm on a stormbolter) ... nothing to see here :p

 

Though it was just a thematic thought for having 'borrowed' one. We have the respected rank so anyone can pick up a stalker boltgun for the same effect at four times the range.

[Mazer Rackham]

2 minutes ago, A.T. said:

 

(Innocently puts a Dark Angels weapon charm on a stormbolter) ... nothing to see here :p

 

Though it was just a thematic thought for having 'borrowed' one. We have the respected rank so anyone can pick up a stalker boltgun for the same effect at four times the range.

 

No, I completely understand the thematic reasoning, and yes, a Stalker does do that, but it isn't MC, and it isn't Reliable, and it doesn't have a stitch switch, and it has less mag cap, and you couldn't buy it with Reliable as R1 SGW, etc etc.

 

Further, the Hesh is badly written (like most of my posts). Firstly, does it count as a pistol, or not? The Naval Boltgun does. Secondly, it says it's MC, and that the 'benefits are included in the profile'. Are they? 1D10+9 is standard damage. Shouldn't it be 1D10+11? Thirdly, Master-Craftsmanship sidebar says it doesn't Jam, but Reliable doesn't allow for that - it just means you get a chance it doesn't Jam. Is the Master-Crafted just thematic? If so, why mention it in the FAQ?

 

I know the answer is that it's because DW doesn't have Best-Quality, and it's the same for the Master-Crafted Scout Armour in the RGFTJ Deed, but the Master Crafted does have an effect there - it basically makes the armour better. Is that included in the profile? No it is not.

 

It's another reason I don't like this bloody gun. My whole instinct as a GM screams at it and hence: that is My Ruling.

[A.T.]

18 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Are they? 1D10+9 is standard damage. Shouldn't it be 1D10+11?

If I was generous i'd suggest perhaps it was built with the 'compact' upgrade and/or master crafted so that it couldn't be further buffed.

 

On the other hand it does also have two scopes. Presumably it is intended to be fired like a pair of opera glasses...

[Mazer Rackham]

17 minutes ago, A.T. said:

On the other hand it does also have two scopes. Presumably it is intended to be fired like a pair of opera glasses...

 

Legit RAW.

 

[grailkeeper]

I'm good with any equipment. Maybe some kind of utility tool like an auspex. I had an old character called Nolites so I'll go with that name.

 

Making a model of your character is a cool idea.

 

I have this old dark angel that could be converted into a Marine Malevolent. Thoughts - would spraying white over this be a mess or should I paint directly on it? I don't have paint stripper.

 

Think I should obliterate the DA symbol entirely or leave a bit as the wing sorta looks like a MM chapter symbol.

[Mazer Rackham]

2 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

I'm good with any equipment. Maybe some kind of utility tool like an auspex. I had an old character called Nolites so I'll go with that name.

 

I'll fix him up. The Auspex would best be taken when you get to the point where you can use your requisition, I'll wiggle something else for you vs your XP spends.

 

Went with Paranoia for 500xp and Pilot (Personal) so you can use a Jump Pack if you can get your hands on one.

 

With all that done, Nolites is hot to trot.

 

2 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

Making a model of your character is a cool idea.

 

I have this old dark angel that could be converted into a Marine Malevolent. Thoughts - would spraying white over this be a mess or should I paint directly on it? I don't have paint stripper.

 

Think I should obliterate the DA symbol entirely or leave a bit as the wing sorta looks like a MM chapter symbol.

 

That one's best directed to our modelling Nookies!

 

Lads?

Edited Thursday at 10:08 PM by Mazer Rackham

[Lysimachus]

2 hours ago, grailkeeper said:

I have this old dark angel that could be converted into a Marine Malevolent. Thoughts - would spraying white over this be a mess or should I paint directly on it? I don't have paint stripper.

 

Think I should obliterate the DA symbol entirely or leave a bit as the wing sorta looks like a MM chapter symbol.

 

 

Getting the MM yellow over DA green will be tricky, so I'd probably try respraying... although it does depend how many layers you've already got on it? What kind of mini is it? Metal? Plastic? Paint stripper isn't too expensive, and there are a few alternatives that work pretty well too.

 

I reckon if you could scrape off one wing and the sword, that would look ok. It would probably be possible to add a lightning bolt shape with Green Stuff, if you've got any?

 

[Trokair]

I would be inclined to spray in a mid to light grey to try and reset the pallet a bit, if some places remain a bit dark (especially in the recesses) then that is probably ok.

 

If you are going normal paints maybe a light brown/orange as a base, then yellow over that.

 

If you have the imperial fist contrast paint (it is a pretty good yellow) then a spray (or two) of something like greyseer should be good, then yellow where needed.

[Mazer Rackham]

If it's a metal model, you can dump it into Acetate (nail varnish remover) for about 3-4 hours, and it will strip that sucker nude (with some persuasion form an old toothbrush).

 

Have to do it in glass though, as it will gobble resin, and turn plastic into rubbery slop.

Edited Thursday at 11:10 PM by Mazer Rackham

[Lord_Ikka]

Stripping plastic or resin with Simple Green or LA Totally Awesome cleaners works fine and won't damage them. I favor stripping over priming over already painted models because of the potential loss of details.

[grailkeeper]

It's a plastic mini I got second hand. It's from the dark vengeance set. Its got a thin layer of paint on it.

 

My plan with the right pauldron is to be pretty rough. Its going to look mostly battle damaged with the chapter symbol mostly obliterated. That would be in keeping with my armour lore. I suppose I could try and rebuild from scratch. It'd be harder but do you guys think it'd be worth it?