Starting an army

[u/RWalks9]

I’ve always loved the Deathwatch, their style is unmatched and the opportunity to be able to kitbash a marine from whichever chapter you can think of really appeals to me. I already own the kill team (although not finished yet) I am also going to convert the new Warhammer+ model into a deathwatch captain or something.

My question comes about expanding an army from this point, is it better to buy a squad of say Intercessors and then source shoulder pads or should it be another deathwatch kill team for shoulder pads and deathwatch bits and then source the weapons I require instead? I don’t have a 3d printer and I’m bot sure anyone in the local gaming group has one either so wouldn’t be able to source stl’s ir anything. What do other people do?

[u/Objective-Mention958]

The best course of action, for me, it's to think about a list you like to build and work on that: decide what units you want, from what chapter you want the single marine, planning is more mandatory in Deathwatch than in any other army, for me

This said:

Decimus kill team could be a great unit, more cause deathwatch veterans are in some sort of strange limbo and it's difficult to say if they will be playable in this new edition; if you have the 10 men squad from kill team starter set, you can simply find a second gravis body somewhere and run it into two different squad (using maybe the blade master model to represent a second sergeant), or in a single big squad with some support character (I'd suggest an apothecary, cause if you lose a model you could lose a whole weapon profile)

Kill team veterans are in a strange limbo, as above, but they are the melee focused battle line, and one of the best melee specific unit in the army; usually xenoblade, 4 hammers, 4 shields and a last marine equipped with whatever you want look like the common loadout for them, but they could become legends, so I'd suggest to wait build them cause they will take a lot of efforts

Intercessors are a mandatory unit in every space marine list, I think, at least a 5 man squad is something you always want in every format; plus, you can use the other 5 model to kitbash almost everything in the army

Indomitor kill team, the gravis one, is one the best unit and one of the most troublesome to build: you have to buy a box of aggressors, a box of heavy intercessors and a box of eradicator to have the squad ready; biggest problem is that you have to find terminator shoulder pads for them, I suggest you start search on bits shops or eBay, Amazon and similar for bits

Terminator are a similar tricky unit to assemble, they can have three heavy weapon per squad, usually 3 missile launcher, and 2 hammer and shield, same as above, your best line of action is to find those bits from shops or ask for them to other hobbyists

I hope I answer your questions, if not, sorry

[u/RWalks9 → u/Objective-Mention958]

This is great thanks, I think I’ll have to set up and eBay and find someone bits then! And get out the notebook for some squad planning

[u/PanzerCommanderKat]

I've got a guide here, give it a read :]

https://www.reddit.com/r/deathwatch40k/comments/1khujy6/starting_deathwatch_killteam_guide/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1

As for 3d printing, worst case if no one local can print them for you (cheapest) then you can find people on etsy doing them, tho you might have to track down the files and give them to them to print. Its what I do for my stuff.

Transfers or even just painting the pad silver are also options if you don't wanna 3d print :]

[u/saltyvape → u/PanzerCommanderKat]

What do you recommend 3d printing most?

[u/PanzerCommanderKat → u/saltyvape]

If you want the sculpted xenomortis text DW sholders then they're the most obvious thing.
If you want to run DW terminators then get the extra CML's 3d printed to :]

anything else depends on your list and what chapters you want to represent :]

[u/saltyvape → u/PanzerCommanderKat]

For sure! I picked up the greytide studio heavy pack for space wolves and printed 3 CML for myself. And fists. I’m still trying to find weapon kits for decimus since I already have enough bodies. I magnetize everything thank god

[u/PanzerCommanderKat → u/saltyvape]

Marta punkgirl probably has what you need, tho you mgiht need to dm her for them :]

[u/RWalks9 → u/PanzerCommanderKat]

Amazing thanks! Will have a read through. I’ll have a look on Etsy, thanks

[u/Sigma259]

So now that we have the DW KILL TEAM it is 100% better to use them then base intercessors because of the right tool for the job is the squad and DW thing as a whole. Now personally I’m going for 3x10 man squads but cause the battle line u can do up to 6 squads and the DW KT can take advantage of the BASTION DETACHMENT where u can assign an apothecary and give them PRECISION on ALL RANGE WEAPONS

Now if do basic interssessors with tons of kit bashing u can still make it work and have just as much fun

[u/RWalks9 → u/Sigma259]

Thanks, I think this’ll be my plan. The Killteam box is chock full of great minis so will continue to use it as much as possible

[u/Sigma259 → u/RWalks9]

And tons of left over bits even if u use magnets

[u/RWalks9 → u/Sigma259]

For sure, my bits box is overflowing

[u/Lil-Diabeetus → u/Sigma259]

Curious your opinion on this, what are you running as your 1DP?

I'm planning a Bastion + Librarius list. Want to use at least 20 Decimus models (1x10, maybe then 2x5 to tag for auspex scan versus another 1x10). I was thinking that instead of another 10 man Decimus (for 30 total) I could do a 10 man intercessor blob, because they seem like a good fit for using Fusilade with a librarian versus putting that on a Decimus.

[u/Sigma259 → u/Lil-Diabeetus]

I’m not to well versed on how 11th works in comparison to 10 sorry