Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Imperial Agents (section)

==Deathwatch==
[[File:IA DW.jpg|300px|right|thumb|]]
===Special Rules===
*'''Mission Tactics:''' One of the many things that makes these snowflakes special.  The Deathwatch version of Chapter Tactics, at the beginning of your first turn, pick a force organization slot (Purgatus=HQ, Dominatus=Elite, Furor=Troops, Venator=Fast Attack, Malleus=Heavy Support). You re-roll 1s to hit against enemy units of that type. Once per game, you can change which type you get this rule against.
::Note that since it stacks with Aquila Doctrine, there's no reason not to completely specialize each Deathwatch squad into one roll.  Don't try to cover multiple bases with each squad, just get another one to do something different.
*'''Combat Squads:''' Like normal Marines the Deathwatch can break 10-man squads into two, but unless you're in a tournament and can't take more Detachments there's no reason to do this, and in many cases it's detrimental since new Deathwatch squads could take more weapons.
*'''Atonement Through Honour:''' Blackshields only, doubles their attacks if they're fighting in a challenge, against enemies who outnumber their own squad, or against a Monstrous Creature.  To take full advantage it's best to give them something strong, like a Power Fist or Thunder Hammer.

===Armoury===
====Ranged Weapons====
*'''Boltgun:''' The gun by which all others are judged by, though this time with some extra bling in the form of Special Ammunition: Essentially, you can choose to fire 1 of 4 types of special rounds instead of the basic 24" S4 AP5 Rapid Fire shot, but all models in a unit must fire the same type of ammo.
**'''Dragonfire bolts:''' S4 AP5, Ignores Cover. Great for taking out cover-camping Orks, Guardians, Kroot, and in a stretch Nurgle Daemons due to the shrouded bonus. Also great for circumventing Tyranid Venomthropes, and denying Jink saves to Eldar/Dark Eldar/Harlequin paper boats. This round will also cripple a Tau player who needs his Pathfinders to stay alive. 
**'''Hellfire rounds:''' The most simple and universal of the special rounds, S1 AP5, Poisoned (2+). Go for it if a target is too tough to be wounded with Vengeance Rounds, or if your target is out in the open and has 5+ or 6+ armor since you'll score a lot more wounds. Said lots of wounds may be worth it against 2+ armored opponents as well. 
***'''Hellfire shells:''' Heavy Bolters and Infernus Heavy Bolters get Hellfire Shells which are 24" S1 AP- Poisoned 2+ Heavy 1 blasts.
**'''Kraken bolts:''' 30" range (15" on Pistols) with S4 AP4. Great for dealing with Dire Avengers, Tempestus Scions, Carapace Armor guard Veterans, Fire Warriors, and 'Eavy Armored Orks.
**'''Vengeance rounds:''' 18" range (9" on Pistols) with S4 '''AP3''', but Gets Hot! just like Plasma guns. Ideal for disposing with Fire Dragons, Crisis Suits, and in fact is worth it against MEQ in general. (Note, with your mission tactic rerolls you can use this with only a 1/59 (1/108 with 2+ armor) chance of dying from a given shot. Spam them.)
*'''Stalker pattern Boltgun:''' The special Deathwatch Boltguns. 5 points each. 30" SX AP5, Heavy 2, Sniper. You'll never use the base profile because Special Ammunition offers direct upgrades. Has its own special-issue ammunition profiles.
**'''Dragonfire Bolt:''' SX AP5 Heavy 2 sniper, ignores cover, 30". Good for taking out Bikes of any kind due to circumventing toughness bonuses, the possibility to rend (ignoring armor) is there too, and this just straight up denies Skilled Rider shenanigans ([[Dark Angels|Ravenwing]] and [[White Scars]], we're looking at you).
**'''Hellfire Round:''' SX AP5 Heavy 2 sniper, Poisoned (2+), 30". Probably the best type to use overall. Snipers wound on 4+ naturally, but Poisoned 2+ means you'll statistically score way more wounds since often a 50/50 shot is too risky.
***The Sniper special rule makes these a real threat for Riptides. Wounding on 2s rending in 6s means a five vet team can troll one into wasting its nova on the shield
**'''Kraken Bolt:''' SX AP4 Heavy 2 sniper, 36". Another great choice. Straight upgrade from the basic ammo.
**'''Vengeance Round:''' SX AP3 Heavy 2 sniper, gets hot, 24". Actually ideal for dealing with Wraithguard/Greater Daemons/Tyranid Monsters since they always wound on 4+, ignoring a Monstrous creature's high toughness and ignoring armor saves (The Riptide and the Tyrannofex have 2+ armor, but they're one of the very few MC that have one). 
*'''Deathwatch Shotgun:''' Special shotgun that fires different rounds, kind of like a Special Ammo shotgun but with different effects.
**'''Cryptclearer Round:''' S4 AP- Assault 2 Shred, 16".  For when the armour save simply isn't good enough to use Xenopurge Slugs on (or when Xenopurge wouldn't have an effect anyway).
**'''Xenopurge slug:''' S4 AP4 Assault 2, 16".  Feel like a shorter ranged Jacobus.
**'''Wyrmsbreath shell:''' S3 AP6 Assault 1 Template. Note that gives Wall of Death so arm your guys with this and fire 5d3 overwatch hits.
*'''Storm Bolter:''' While normally a direct upgrade to the bolter, it doesn't have Special Ammunition and so it isn't as useful as the default gear.  Pass.
*'''Combi-Weapon:''' The Deathwatch can benefit from the comb-weapons quite nicely, as they can still use Special Ammunition the regular gun remains useful while the Plasma, Melta, Flamer and Grav can all cover extra bases, such as buying Flamers so that you have extra Overwatch against enemies. 
*'''Heavy Bolter:''' Even the big bolters gain Special Ammunition (though just one shot), but you won't want to take it.  On their own these are exactly the guns you expect them to be, and if all you want is killing GEQ's and Xenos then they won't disappoint.
*'''Heavy Flamer:''' Much more effective at horde-crunching than the regular flamer, so much so that there's little reason to take the regular Flamer over this one. Overwatch "Wall of Death" with this can be VERY painful. Though it's listed as a "heavy weapon" wargear option, its rules are Assault 1 (''not'' Heavy) so you can move, flame, and charge, and with up to four models per squad grabbing them, you don't even have to worry about low distribution which is normally a problem for these guns.
**'''Hellfire Shells:''' No.  Unless you're fighting the dumbest player on the planet you should not be using these.  They take a while to do if you have more than two of them in a squad, they cost too much for too little results, they are more likely to miss than your regular AP, the Deathwatch's enemies are either T3, or have a Toughness and Armour save high enough that other guns are better suited for dealing with them.  Hellfire Shells suck.
*'''Infernus Heavy Bolter:''' A Heavy Bolter on crack, so much so that it became an assault weapon with a Heavy Flamer attached to it.  These would be really useful if they didn't cost so much, just being 5 points cheaper than the Frag Cannon.  Most of the time their long-ranged role can be done just as well by the far cheaper Heavy Bolters, and their short-ranged role can be done better by a real Heavy Flamer.
*'''Deathwatch Frag Cannon:''' A gun taken from old Furioso Dreadnoughts and upgraded. It can be a Strength 6 template weapon that fires twice and Rends, it can turn into an AP3 Assault Rending Autocannon, and it can turn into a 12" Assault 2 Lascannon.  Responsible for a lot of bitching and for good reason, Frag Cannons are arguably the best gun in the Deathwatch's arsenal, and with a points cost that reflects this.
*'''Grav Pistol:''' Safer than the Plasma Pistol, it can surprise some heavily armored foe when you're wounding them on threes or twos and dropping them to I1 thanks to Concussive. Feel free to take is so that your Heavy Thunder Hammer wielding Marine has an extra edge before charging in. Bonus points if you immobilize a Dreadnought about to charge you. 
*'''Inferno Pistol:''' The same Blood Angels and Sisters of Battle Pistol they know and love. S8 AP1 with a range just slightly longer than the average charge range. Also has the Melta rule, but at 3", you are more than likely to be caught in the blast, or get killed when the enemy pours out of the transport you popped. Still preferable over the Plasma Pistol.
*'''Hand Flamers:''' GW has a rules making position for whoever takes these, as it's such a bad idea you'll fit right in.  Hand Flamers cost 9 points more than Shotguns while delivering the same (if not worse) results.  Don't even take them to get the +2 CCW bonus, just take a better fucking pistol.
*'''Plasma Pistol:''' Ugh, why?  There's better gear out there, while Inferno Pistols are shorter in range they hit much harder (being capable of Instant Death that the Plasma Pistol isn't) and Grav-pistols are equally as good against targets who are just as heavily armoured, possibly better thanks to Concussive weakening them for melee, and they cost the same too.  If you really want plasma that bad, then just pay the full points and buy an actual plasma gun.
*'''Flamer:''' The classic anti-horde option, most useful when up against Tyranids, Orks, and blob Imperial Guard. Makes Overwatch painful and best of all, [[derp|it's cheaper than the weaker Hand Flamer.]]
*'''Meltagun:''' For when vehicles just need to die.  Deathwatch can do well with Melta's, they're one of the few units in the game where it's possible to arm everyone with them and they benefit greatly from Mission Tactics and Aquila Doctrine, which together almost give them full re-rolls with these guns.
*'''Plasma gun:''' There we go. Far better than the pistol, and everyone in the squad can get them.  It's debatable on whether or not they're better than the Grav-guns, as the plasma pistols can put out enough shots to make shooting at non-2+ saves worth it and they can shoot slightly further, but Grav-guns have the same cost and can put out more shots at a slightly closer range.  At the end of the day it comes down to how much 2+ armour you think you'll be up against, and whether or not you'll be able to ID some T3 Xenos.
*'''Grav-gun:''' Nigh-useless against Orks, Dark Eldar, or Guardsmen, but absolute hell against Grey Knights, other MEQ armies, and anything relying on armor saves to stay safe. In a pinch, it can be used as anti-tank too since it immobilizes vehicles on 6s, and given how many Deathwatch marines can have them you should be able to reliably roll at least one 6.
*'''Frag/Krak Grenades:''' If you need to know what these do, then start playing vanilla Marines first before moving to the Deathwatch.

====Melee Weapons====
*'''Close Combat Weapon:''' A stat-less CCW.  Everyone has one and you'll probably swap it out for something better.
*'''Power Weapons:''' The same flavours of AP as always.  The Deathwatch can really shine in melee, and since everyone can take them you might as well gear up with all sorts.  Some axes to hack apart the odd 2+ save? Why not, mauls for S6 AP4?  Go ahead, you'll insta-kill Genestealer Cults, swords for I4 AP3?  No, go pay the same cost to get a Lightning Claw instead.
*'''Power Fist:''' Situational at best.  While the Deathwatch can find use with it, most big monsters/high Toughness enemies that would require it could probably have been better handled by one of your guns.
*'''Thunder Hammer:''' Well if you're going to get into combat with a big monster, you might as well bring along a Power Fist that can de-buff it.  The points increase is marginal at this point, so take the hammer and slap it onto a Blackshield.  Do note that if you want to give a regular Marine a Thunder Hammer, then you should just get the Heavy Thunder Hammer instead.
*'''Heavy Thunder Hammer:''' For when you want to go big or go home.  It costs the same as a regular hammer and so costs more than the Marine carrying it, and since you shouldn't shell out the points for a second Specialist Weapon it also has no downsides while performing better.  Able to ID T5 and occasionally ID everything, there's no reason not to take this if you want a Hammer.
*'''Lightning Claw:''' A single Lightning Claw, and the Deathwatch don't get much use out of these.  If you take a Power Axe instead you'll normally be hurting the Deathwatch's preferred targets on a 2+, which is already re-rollable thanks to Aquila Doctrine, but if all you want is a Power Sword, then you'll be pleased to know that a Lightning Claw outperforms it in every way while remaining cheaper.
*'''Xenophase Blade:''' Literally jacking Necron Phase Swords in place of Power Swords. It's a Power Sword that forces all successful invulnerable saves to be re-rolled. Now that's big against those whose only save is an Invuln (like Harlequins and Chaos Daemons) as well as Necrons, Guard, and those whose HQ units at best have 3+ Armor that's ignored by the Xenophase blade and fall back on Invulns. Veteran Sergeants do well with these.

====Special Issue Wargear====
*'''Storm Shield:''' Gives you a 3+ Invulnerable save. A Storm Shield is a Veteran squad's best friend when you need to carry your cover with you to stop the ocean of AP3/2, or need protection in close combat. Otherwise, keep it simple and load up on more marines.
*'''Auspex:''' For when fucking over Cover saves is more important than shooting, though its 12" range is quite limiting.  If you still want it, feel free, it's not that bad for 5 points.
*'''Combat Shield:''' 5 points gives you a 6++.  If you have 5 points to spare, you could do worse than this.
*'''Melta bombs:''' No.  You're wasting your extra attacks and if you wanted that tank cracked open, you should have gotten meltas.
*'''Teleport Homer:''' Well, if you're allying in somebody wearing Terminator armour, why not?  Don't count on using it every game though, there'll be plenty of times where the Deathwatch's preferred target is far away from the Terminator's. 
*'''Digital Weapons:''' Not worth it.  You've already got Aquila Doctrine, which should be good enough.

===Detachment===
'''Deathwatch Kill Team'''
*Requires:
**1 Troops
*Must be of the Deathwatch faction.
*'''Aquila Doctrine:''' Non-vehicles of this formation re-roll armour penetration and to-wound rolls of 1.  This, combined with Mission Tactics, acts as Preferred Enemy.  Not bad at all if you're taking them as a single "assassin" unit.

===Unit Analysis===
====Troops====
*'''Veterans:''' Sternguard Veterans as Troops, with the same basic wargear as the Sternguard and the special ammunition the deathwatch is famous for.  As for as the groups of power armoured units in this book go, they're more expensive than the Sisters, less expensive than the Knights, and far more customizable than both.  To start off, you're forced to get at least 5, but unlike many other armies, all 5 of them can get special weapons and wargear, and this is where the massive amounts of customization come into play.
:If you want them to be good at semi-long ranged combat (24"-36"), then grab a few missile launchers, some stalker pattern boltguns and call it a day.  Seriously, their special ammunition for the bolter can reach so far it's not even funny, allowing you to outshoot the Tau while ignoring their armour at the same time.  Note that you should never buy Storm Bolters, it's just a bad idea since they cannot use special ammunition, and that is a huge bonus to just squander for a very minor possible benefit.  If for whatever reason you absolutely have to take it, always replace the CCW of the Marine with it, and this goes for buying long-ranged weapons in general, losing the CCW will not hurt you in any way, shape or form, losing the boltgun will, unless you're replacing it with a weapon from the Special/Heavy Weapons lists (where replacing it is mandatory, but you can get cool shit there).  Unlike the Storm Bolter, the Heavy Bolter is an option you might consider getting, it's only 5 points more than the Storm Bolter, puts out more shots than your specialist ammo allows for, and usually at a higher Strength and AP value too, though it's by no means a must-have.  You could also give one of the Marines a Storm Shield and stick him up front, just in case you're worried about any long-ranged AP3.
:For mid-range combat (8"-24") you've got a some nice options, most of which are completely outshined by the all-purpose Frag Cannon.  Despite their price Frag Cannons are well worth getting, and anyone who's T5 and can resist the close-range ID will still go down to a barrage of S7-S9 AP4-AP2 shots, after you use them to pop whatever Transport your target happens to be hiding in of course, just make sure they're properly supported and the enemy can't focus all of their fire on the squad before they've done their job.  Getting a squad with Frag Cannons into position is one of the harder things you can do with the Deathwatch, especially if your opponent knows what you're doing, and isn't stupid.  The Infernus Heavy Bolter can be useful here too, being strong enough and putting out enough shots to warrant its price tag for an Assault weapon that's usually a Heavy weapon, and the Heavy Flamer provides great protection against enemy units that somehow got a little too close, though that's more of a mulligan in this case.  If you're worried about units getting that close, or if you want to close in yourself, then you should have just paid the extra 5 points and gotten another Frag Cannon.  You also still have your bolters and their special ammunition, and in this case you don't want the Stalker Boltguns.  Heavy simply isn't going to offer as much of a benefit as the mobility a Rapid-fire gun can offer.
::Note too that there are a few ways to get Frag Launchers into position on Turn 1, you can use the Inquisition to get Master of Ambush and set up your guys already within killing distance, or you can buy one of several transports to get them there.  Corvus Blackstars, Chimera's, Sororitas Rhino's (the latter two courtesy of the Inquisition), all of them will get you there without costing too much, at the same time they'll also offer extra protection to your troops.  This is nice because Frag Launchers are fucking expensive, being three points more than another marine!
::Do note as well that if mid-ranged AP2 is all you're after and you've only got one specific 2+ save target in mind, then just go for Grav-guns or Plasma Guns, both of which benefit Greatly from the Mission Tactics and Aquila Doctrine, and cost a little less than the Frag Cannons.
:For close range weapons, Heavy Flamers are a nice option, being far cheaper than the Frag Cannon (and the Infernus Heavy Bolter), shotguns can do wonders for softening down an opponent for assault, as well as acting as a good deterrent for the squad getting assaulted themselves (the amount of Template weapons the Deathwatch can field is disgusting).  Once again Frag Launchers shine here but you need to be more careful with them, while their Template fire is devastating the squad's going to become a very big target, and you can only Overwatch once.  If you get charged by something you didn't want to use the Wall of Death on, then you're kind of screwed when the squad you did want to WoD decides to join the party too.  This is on top of not needing quite that much Wall of Death anyway (you do not need 2D3 per marine), Heavy Flamers can give you all you needed while keeping your points down.  The Infernus Heavy Bolter is debatable here, mostly because of its Assault Heavy Flamer.  If you know you're up against blobs and want to move marines to help counter a player who knows how to position blobs so that Heavy Flamers aren't so bad, then go for it.  Even though Frag Cannon's are only 5 points more, you might need that AP4 (and Rending doesn't always cut it).
:For close combat you've got a ton of options, and feel free to mix and match.  If you know you're going to be against some TEQ's then grab a power axe/fist to go alongside some Lightning Claws.  Get a Storm Shield so that you can live long enough to make it to close combat in case you know that the opponent's get their fair share of AP3 weapons.  Always make somebody a Black Shield if you know they're going to Assault, his special rule comes in handy more often than not, and you should definitely give him something like a Power Fist or a Thunder Hammer, as he'll almost always be Wounding on 2+ while Aquila Doctrine lets him re-roll the 1's.  A Xenophase Sword for the Sergeant can also be a good idea, but only if you know what you're up against.  Many opponents you want to have re-roll their Invulnerable saves are going to have 2+ armour, though you'll be glad he had it any time you go up against ones who don't.  Heavy Thunder Hammers can also be a great idea, and you might as well take one instead of the generic Hammer if you were planning on getting one anyway since it's only 5 points, and being two-handed isn't going to hurt you since the generic's have Specialist Weapon.  S10 AP2 is fantastic, but don't always count on Pulverize, you simply don't have the attacks necessary to get it to happen whenever it's most convenient. 
::Note that having a Xenophase Sword can and will also cancel out some of the re-rollable Invulnerable save's some armies can get.  You can't re-roll twice, so if the first save is successful, and the second save is a failure, then that's it, the second save remains a failure and their bonus for re-rolling saves no longer has any benefit.
::Deathwatch in assault can also benefit greatly from an allied Priest as he can make the whole squad live a lot longer than they had any right to, especially if you've got a Storm Shield soaking up a lot of damage from AP2-AP3 weapons.
::There are also a few different ways of actually getting Deathwatch assault squads into assault, however the most obvious one is to just take a Corvus, and then ally in somebody who can either bring the Skyshield Landing Pad, or ally in an Astropath (it's not like you weren't going to need Prescience on something that you were allying the Deathwatch with already).
:Finally, remember that no matter their loadout, a Deathwatch Veteran Squad is always going to be a target, so make sure you've got other squads covering their ass and picking of any potential threats (such as AP3, Strength 6+, and any sort of transport popper).  Their cost can skyrocket, and losing them before they've done their job can easily cost you the game.

====Fast Attack====
*'''Corvus Blackstar:''' The air transport Space Marine players (and most Imperial players) have been waiting for since the beginning of time. The Corvus Blackstar is a complete beast, being a flying transport [[Awesome|that's also an assault vehicle]] while being durable enough to get your dudes where they need to be, and killy enough to justify being 60 points more than a Valkyrie. The Auspex Array is useful if you're taking the Stormstrike Missiles, as they aren't Twin-Linked and BS5 can help you land your shots. Otherwise, take the Infernium Halo Launcher. The Corvus is a transport, first and foremost, and the last thing you want is for it to get shot down with its precious cargo still inside.
:The Lascannon pairs up nicely with the Stormstrike Missiles, and if you're planning on hunting heavy armor or tough MCs with your Kill Team, they pair together nicely to help soften it up at range.  The Blackstar Rocket Launcher offers some versatility in dealing with different threats. A cover-ignoring Large Blast will soften up hordes nicely, while the Corvus warheads can be used to tangle with other fliers and Xenos vehicles (as most of those are skimmers). You should weigh it carefully against the Stormstrike Missiles, though, especially if you've built your Veterans for melee. Stormstrike missiles are Concussive, so if you save them for the turn your Veterans disembark and charge, you can drop your hapless target to I1 and ensure your Heavy Thunder Hammers get a chance to swing.  The Locater Beacon can usually be skipped, there's others to ally in if you want to make sure Deep-strikers don't go anywhere (Grey Knights and Mystics do the job way better), not to mention that unless you're using a Skyshield Landing Pad, the Blackstar's going to start in reserve as well, and might show up after the Deep-strikers.
:The Hurricane Bolter is useful against armies where you expect to fight a fair amount of infantry. While it's not necessary it's a handy bit of [[dakka]] to add alongside the Assault Cannon, and it buffs up with Strafing Run quite nicely.