Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team (HoR)/Tactics/Deathwatch(8E)

The transition from early 7th to 8th Edition wasn't as smooth as many have hoped for the HoR Deathwatch. Much of the ultra-customizing that people of fond of was stripped and some of the slots were swapped around in order to accommodate the codex and the new arrivals. Your prices are also a good deal higher than those of an equivalent model from the base marine opus, which means that your team will be on the small side.

Your common keywords are Imperium, Adeptus Astartes, Deathwatch

General Rules

• Elite Kill-Team: Though you'll never encounter this outside of campaigns, this makes it so that your Core models are restricted to which honors they can take as if they were Special choices made Core.
• Mission Tactics: You can now focus this rule to a single dastasheet instead of a slot, meaning you now re-roll 1s to wound Dire Avengers or Termagants instead of all Troops or all Heavy Supports. You should focus this on the most numerous unit present, though you can swap it once per game for free, and then use a Tactical Action for each time afterward.

Armoury

• Purity Seals: Your model can re-roll a single hit, wound, or save roll, which has pretty big value for how expensive your guys are.
• Auspex: If you find reinforcements, you bring one of these and make the team shoot the crap outta them.
• Master-Crafted Weapon: Ups one melee weapon's damage by 1. Not available for guns for some stupid reason.
• Auxiliary Grenade Launcher: Provides a major range boost for grenades if you use them.
• Preysense Augur: Pretty evil on scouts and reivers, this lets any model re-deploy to any table edge, though you'll end up pretty far.
• Hellfire Honours: Codiciers only. This lets you smite instead of overwatching, though the test to cast it is at a -2 penalty.
• Locator Beacon: This is pretty important for any drop-heavy armies, as it lets you immediately bring them in within 8" of the bearer.
• Bionics: Ability to ignore wounds, check.
• Suspensors: Your heavy weapon ignores the penalty for shooting on the move, but your weapon's range is halved.
• Refractor Field: A 5++ Invuln, same as always.
• Expanded Ammo Stores: Thought that your Deathwatch Standard Issue Ammo was all you can get? Well no, you can get two more! And only for five points!
  • Grav: Adds +1 to hit units with Fly. Goodbye, Raptors.
  • Tempest: On a 5+ to hit, you shove the target back d3", which is pretty nifty. Especially if you kick them off a cliff.
  • Stormshard: Useless on pistols and bolters, but not so much on heavy bolters and stalker rifles.
  • Metal Storm': Your gun's weaker, but you get double the hits on a 5+ to hit. Pretty much spells death to anything GEQ.
  • Psybolt': +1 to Strength, which is more useful.
  • Kinetic: +1 to Damage, which makes it more reliable than Metal Storm.
  • Synapse: Robs any auras if you hit the leader, which makes this awesome for any marksmen on the team.
  • Disruptor: Robs any save-after-saves like Disgustingly Resilient. Nice.
  • Hypersonic: Drops the target's invuln save by 1 for any hits by this gun, which won't matter much for a super-armored terminator, but it will help you gib daemons and assassins.

Augmetics

Your Leaders and several Specials can all pick up a cybernetic upgrade to improve themselves, some bolstering the lack of a particular aura. The other pack of upgrades, given to all without reckon since it's not heresy.

• Mobility: While it mentions the movement bonus, the real star is the ability to climb and jump without rolling and the ability to ignore any terrain like a boss.
• Strength: What a nightmarish thing to add. Assault weapons lose their penalty for shooting after advancing, Rapid Fire weapons can be fired like Assault weapons on the charge, and you can hit with Hammers and Fists without penalty!
• Dermal Armour: Cheap 4+ against mortal wounds. Not bad at all.
• Sensory: 2+ BS? Welcome to the HQ leagues and a premium pricetag.
• Reaction Enhancer: Not the same as above, but an extra attack shouldn't be ignored either.
• Metabolic Velocity: Gives you an extra round of attacks once per game, which can be critical for taking down the heavies and leaders.
• Metabolic Regeneration: A regenerated wound on a 5+ for 5 points is pretty great.
• Darksight Enhancement: Oh hell yes. You want this. You want to fuck over anything relying on penalties to hit. You also want to fight at night without issue.
• Tactical Processor: This is your means of recovering TPs, but only if that point was spent on this model. It also gives an extra 2" to consolidate, which is neat.

Fortress Armoury

• Brennart's Clavis: This is made for a surprise assault. It's another orbital assault, only this time coming from below.
• Vivisection Gauntlet: Artifex or Apothecary only. While it's a melee weapon that's AP-1 and wounds anything non-vehicular on a 2+, it's also got a tactical use. At the start of the game, you can roll a d6: on a 1, a wound is permanently lost, otherwise you gain d3+1 TP.
• Espenæs Pattern Meaconing Comm Jammer: No idea what the hell any of this means, but it's here to foil TP usage. That said, it can only be used on a model within 18".
• The Collector: A Power Maul with AP-2. The cooler bit is that it'll deal d3 damage to any models with a save of 3+ or better, meaning that other marines and battlesuits will need to beware you.
• Overkill: Instead of a combi-gun with a bolter and something else, you get a combi-plasma-melta. That's just SINISTER.
• Hazred's Mantle: You gave someone a 3++ Invuln. At 17 points, you're already making them as costly as a terminator but with better protection and faster.
• The Black Shield: Blackshield only. You are going to force enemies to hit your suicidal marine, as he's now penalizing anyone who refuses to attack him and instead attacks someone nearby. Fortunately, you also get a 5++ save.
• Charosian's Hood: Gives your model an extra shot to deny a power. It doesn't even have to go on your Codicier, so that's pretty good.

Philosophies

• No Drama: +3 TP for no special choices. Truth be told, you've got plenty enough choices with your termies as core.
• On Foot: +2 TP for no models with the Fly keyword. All righty, at least you got bikes.
• Operators: +2 TP if you get three special choices. Incidentally, you'll have already filled out Cream of the Crop as well.

Tactical Actions

• Cross Load (1 TP): Your bolt weapon fires two sorts of ammo for the turn. There are combos that make this downright salivating.
• Tactical Advance (1 TP): One guy walks or advances during shooting. Cap points, because you need them. Ready the ambush.
• Apex Predator (1 TP): One model can fight after the fight phase. Stack with Metabolic Velocity to render one enemy into so much mincemeat.
• Mission Priority (1 TP): You can swap your Mission Tactics target to another datasheet.
• Veteran Reflexes (1 TP): One model forces models to take -1 to hit them. Just be wary that they don't have some way to cancel out your bullshit.

Unit Analysis

Your FOC is as follows

• 1 Leader
• 1-20 Core
• 0-3 Special

Leaders

• Deathwatch Veteran Sergeant: The basic all-around leader, he gets a Veteran's statline with an extra wound. He can grab just about whatever he wants and then some, including the Watch Master's Custodian Spear and shields. He also possesses the Captain's aura to re-roll 1s to hit.
  • Biker Sergeant: The mobility and survivability boost of these babies is something to never look down on. Adding to this is a new aura, allowing allies to charge after falling back.
  • Vanguard Sergeant: The cheapest of your leaders despite toting a jump pack. While mostly similar, he trades the spear for the option to buy a big hammer. He also has an aura to allow allies to shoot after falling back, which is a curiosity.
  • Terminator Sergeant: For only 3 points, the Sarge can grab Termie armour, granting him better protection, but costing him versatility. His aura now allows you to auto-pass rout tests, which is pretty hefty to consider in a small team like this.
• Deathwatch Champion: Imagine taking out the Champion from your Command Squad, give him another wound, and you'll be pretty much what he is. He's the challenge-based HQ that can re-roll to-hit and to-wound, but he can benefit a bit from BT or BA tactics. He can buy a Storm Shield if you want extra protection, and he can get a Relic Blade or a Thunder Hammer.
• Deathwatch Warden: A Veteran equivalent to Chaplain. Their loadout is limited to pistols and the Armoury, but they maintain the litanies and can grab a jump pack for better movement.
  • Deathwatch Primaris Warden: Your bigger chaplain-lite. Their loadout is static, but that's fine since you get the decent absolver pistol and can stack on special ammo.
• Deathwatch Codicier: A smaller Librarian (with a Vet's statline plus a Wound). They're rather slim on loadout, but they can grab jump packs and can take a power from ANY of the chapter-exclusive disciplines.
  • Deathwatch Primaris Codicier: Expensive as shit for a bigger libby and a virtually barren loadout list.
• Deathwatch Intercessor Sergeant: Take your veteran sergeant, make him an intercessor, and there you have it. The reason why he's cheaper? Well, he left behind the aura and it costs 12 points to buy it back. As an added goody, he owns a chainsword, so you could totally buy a second one and start showing them how good your rip and tear game is, and then keep your bolt rifle to maintain the shooty.
• Deathwatch Aggressor Sergeant: These are your heavy assault boys if you buy the aura, as it lets allies shoot assault weapons after advancing with no penalty. This is a really good idea with any force specializing with their ammo.
• Deathwatch Reiver Sergeant: The spoopy not-scout boss. He's not much different from the others, but he can buy an aura that shares his leadership-debuff aura with others.
• Deathwatch Inceptor Sergeant: Big dumpy jetpacks. They can buy an aura to let allies shoot after falling back, making them most comparable to vanguard sergeants, and probably better for the role since they can carry two big guns.
• Deathwatch Hellblaster Sergeant: The only reason you'd take this guy is because of the price. His options are limited entirely to his guns, and he can't even buy an aura.

Core

• Deathwatch Terminator: Basic termies with all the utility in assault and a gun per three. Since HoR isn't as overrun by super-killer guns, they get to be a bit more useful. Sadly, they lose the ability to buy other patterns.
• Deathwatch Veteran: Basic vets with the ability to take a special or heavy weapon for every 5 men. They unfortunately don't get bonus ammo, so they're gonna be relying on their Stalker Bolters. Since they have a lot of slots for core choices, you can build them up for guns.
• Deathwatch Vanguard Veteran: Locked to their jump packs, but they're absolutely free to buy whatever they want in terms of melee and pistols.
• Deathwatch Biker: Sadly, these guys are locked to being choppy, as their only guns are the bolters on the thing. At least we can buy a shield to protect them.
• Deathwatch Intercessor: An intercessor, now with ammo and the option of one launcher per five.

Special

• Deathwatch Apothecary: This guy is the same as a vanilla one with a 3" range for his narthecium rule and a genuine option to grab a bolter instead of being pure choppy. You can also nab a bike.
  • Deathwatch Primaris Apothecary: The double pistols is pretty much proof enough if any was needed at how he should be shooting.
• Deathwatch Artifiex: Though there are not vehicles in here, you do have the generic tech adept's ability to roll off special effects, all of which would work just as well for the Deathwatch.
• Blackshield: A kamikaze veteran. His Atonement through Honour rule makes him useful to intercept charges, since his thing is breaking into the fights of others and then wasting them in melee.
• Deathwatch Scout: It's curious to see a scout as a Special, but it makes sense where he belongs once you notice his special rule: One character can always be targeted as if they're the closest. Snipers are a go.
• 0-3 Deathwatch Aggressor: Your big heavy gunners, though they don't benefit from ammo. You bring them for their hail of fire, which makes multi-target firing a good move.
• Deathwatch Inceptor: Big jumpy marines.
• Deathwatch Hellblaster: Cheaper than the rest by far, these guys provide safe, reliable anti-whatever fire.
• Deathwatch Reiver: Your other scouts are a lot more mobile. Though not as sneaky and lacking in the sniping department, you do possess a superior ability to set up as you wish and a better melee game.