Deathwatch
This article is about the organization. If you were looking for a different Deathwatch, see below.
The Deathwatch is the chamber militant of the Ordo Xenos and is composed of the most badass Space Marines from every chapter who are deployed according to their skills and which specific kind of xeno they are the most experienced at facing. If they have a devastator squad composed of ten heavy bolter equipped Space Marines who are sent to fight the Tyranids then you can bet that those heavy bolter equipped marines will be the best shots with a heavy bolter the Inquisition could get their hands on and know everything there is to know about fighting the space bug lizards, loaded with all the best toys for Tyranid killing.
Their armor is painted black save for one pauldron which remains painted in the chapter colors to avoid pissing off the machine spirit, and another superfancy one which is silver. Surprisingly this paint job actually manages to look really badass even if it ends up being totally pointless with the Black Consuls, Black Templars, Raven Guard and anyone else wearing black. They get their shit done and get it done quickly and the only conceivable reason that they don't have their own codex is that they tend to be deployed in singular squads rather than fighting large scale battles. There are a few fan-made codexes for them as well as an RPG where they star as player characters though.
Just a single squad of 10 Deathwatch members will royally fuck up the shit of their target. A full deathwatch company's arrival typically spells the end of whatever unlucky xeno son of a bitch is on its receiving end. And if the shit has hit to the fan to the extent that one hundred deathwatch members have to deploy to one battle and organized into an actual company, that probably means that the Imperium is going to be sending a lot more than just the marines.
In short, Space Marine Special Forces.
Breaking news! Apocalypse: War Zone Damnos gives Deathwatch official rules as a Space Marine formation: 1 Captain and 2 Sternguard/Vangaurd Veteran squads gain Preferred Enemy (one Xenos codex of your choice) and Aniphase Bolter Rounds (24" range, S4 AP4, forces Necrons to reroll successful Reanimation Protocols).
What's this flub-duggery then?
Well Deathwatch, whilst undoubtedly cool, were designed for gamers who got Splinters in their arse for sitting on the fence and not committing to one chapter or another. They were designed to reward indecisiveness, and have been pretty much pushed out of Codex Space Marines in 5th Edition unless you used a proxy unit.
The easiest way to get Deathwatch on the table without screwing around, unfortunately, really only applies to users of Codex: Space Marines and Blood Angels (the other flavors of Marines have too much cool stuff already), and armies that can take an allied detachment of them.
Construct your Deathwatch Squad. When it comes time to use them in an army, count them as Sternguard (Sternguard's special ammo comes from old Deathwatch rules) or Vanguard Veterans. Voila. Deathwatch. No pissing around. The unbound army loadout introduced in 7th edition is especially good for this, as your elite special forces team making deep covert incursions into enemy territory don't need to be inexplicably dragging around a few squads of underequipped codex compliant tac squads or even more underequipped scouts.
If you still feel as if this isn't enough, increase their Ballistics skill, Weapons skill, Initiative and Leadership by 1, give them Preferred Enemy (if you're playing Blood Angels, Captain Tycho has this against Orks automatically), increase their point cost somewhat and ask your opponent if you can use them.
It used to be the case that, if you played Black Templars, one of the champion's vows gave the entire army something similar to Preferred Enemy. That changed with the 6th Ed FA; now it just gives Rage. To both the models and the players.
See Also
- Alienhunters
- Deffwotch
- Deathwatch (RPG), part of Fantasy Flight Games' Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay system. You get to be a Deathwatch marine and kill xenos.
- Heralds of Ruin You get to be Deathwatch and play kill team!