Hi everyone, Michael here with a review of the Deathwatch Veteran squad. This part will take a look at the basic squad on its own, I’ll cover Kill Teams in a more detailed fashion in the next part. For more reviews and analyses, check out the Tactics Corner.
Overview:
The Deathwatch Veteran squad is one of the two Troops choices available to the Deathwatch army. The squad benefits from the access to some of the best wargear available to the Space Marines, as well as access to Special Issue Ammunition, which allows even the basic Veteran to take on a wide range of opponents. While they may be somewhat outclassed by the Deathwatch Intercessor squad, they do have access to a much wider range of weapons options and transport options than the Primaris Marines of the Deathwatch.
The basic squad consists of 5 Veterans, with each Veteran costing 17 pts when armed with a Bolter. The squad also has the option to include up to 5 additional models from Veterans, Vanguard Veterans, Deathwatch Terminators and Deathwatch Bikers, as well as the option to include a Watch Sergeant and Black Shield. Each addition provides new benefits and access to new abilities. With such a wealth of options and squad builds available, the uses of the Kill Team are equally varied. In the first part of this review, I will simply look at the basic Veteran squad and their benefits and disadvantages. Part 2 will expand upon the roles and special rules of the mixed Kill Teams.
I would give the Deathwatch Veteran squad a rating somewhere between Efficient and Competitive. They can be equipped to tackle a wide range of threats to the Deathwatch army, and work well when they specialise in one particular aspect on the battlefield. However, the squad can get very expensive, very quickly and their durability on the battlefield can be a bit limited. I think the Intercessor squad is a very strong option for the Deathwatch, but there is still a place for the Deathwatch Veteran squad in the army.
Wargear:
- Boltgun
- Frag and Krak Grenades
- Any Veteran, Watch Sergeant or Black Shield may replace their Boltgun with two items from the Deathwatch Equipment list.
- Up to 4 Veterans may replace their Boltgun with an item from the Heavy Weapons List (Frag Cannon, Heavy Bolter, Heavy Flamer, Infernus Heavy Bolter, Missile Launcher).
- Any Veteran may replace their Boltgun with a Heavy Thunder Hammer.
- A Watch Sergeant may take a combat shield.
Abilities:
- And They Shall Know No Fear
- Combat Squads
- Special Issue Ammunition
- Atonement Through Honour- A unit that contains a Black Shield can make a Heroic Intervention as if it were a Character, and must do so if able to.
- Mission Tactics- At the start of the first battle round, choose a selected Battlefield role (Troops, HQ, Elites, etc). All Deathwatch Infantry, Biker and Dreadnought models may re-roll failed to wound rolls of 1.
Tactics:
The Deathwatch Veteran has a decent profile on the battlefield, with +1A and +1Ld over a standard Space Marine. This gives them a bit more punch in combat and makes them less likely to suffer from the effects of morale, especially in a 5-man squad. One of the problems with the Deathwatch Veteran is that he has the same durability as a normal Space Marine, with only T4, one wound and a 3+ armour save. They went down in cost a bit compared to the Index version, but at 17 pts per model (with a Bolter), the Deathwatch Veteran is still a pretty expensive basic troops choice for an army.
With no cheap troops choices to act as screens, the loss of each Deathwatch Veteran is going to hurt the army. In competitive play, you are most likely going to be relying on the forces of the Astra Militarum to acts as cheap screens and a way to provide command points to your army.
Now that the Primaris Marines in the Deathwatch have access to Special Issue Ammuniton, they are arguably the superior Troops choice. A Deathwatch Intercessor only costs 20 pts per model. For an extra 3 points per model, you get an extra wound, extra 6″ on their gun and an extra -1AP. In isolation, the Intercessor is the better choice in every possible way. However, all is not lost for the noble Deathwatch Veteran. He has access to superior wargear and a wider variety of transport options to get him into the fray quickly.
Where the Deathwatch Veteran does make his points back is in the special rules and wargear options he has available to him.
Special Issue Ammunition
This is one of the key special rules that makes the Deathwatch Veteran squad work in the game. When firing a number of Bolt weapons, the Deathwatch Veterans can fire a range of different ammunition options to suit their targets. These options are:
- Dragonfire- The unit gains +1 to hit when firing at a unit in cover.
- Hellfire- The shot wounds on a 2+ (except against vehicles and Titanic units).
- Kraken- Add 6″ to the range of the weapon (3″ for Pistols) and improve the AP by 1 up to AP-2.
- Vengeance- Decrease the range of the weapon by 6″ (3″ for Pistols) and improve the AP by 2 up to AP-3.
It can be difficult to know what round to use against what enemy unit. I’ve crunched some numbers and put together the average number of unsaved wounds that each round should cause against selected enemy units. In each of the examples below, I am assuming that you have 10 Deathwatch Veterans armed with Boltguns. The unit has deployed from deep strike reserve, so is just over 9″ away. This makes Vengeance rounds out of Rapid Fire range, though the average number of unsaved wounds at rapid fire range has been included out of completeness. Obviously, for the Vehicle/Monster column, the Hellfire round only applies to the Monster (as the shell does not work on Vehicles).
|
Aeldari Guardian (T3, 5+ save) |
Chaos Space Marine
(T4, 3+ save) |
T’au Fire Warrior
(T3, 4+ save) |
Ork Boy
(T4, 6+ save) |
Vehicle/Monster
(T7, 3+ save) |
|
|
Hellfire |
7.5 | 3.7 | 5.6 | 9.3 |
3.7 |
| Kraken | 7.5 | 3.4 | 6.0 | 6.7 |
2.2 |
| Vengeance | 4.5
(9.0 rapid fire) |
2.2
(4.5 rapid fire) |
3.7
(7.5 rapid fire) |
3.4
(6.7 rapid fire) |
1.5 (3.0 rapid fire) |
In general terms, at ranges between 9-12″, the Hellfire rounds are the best option for most enemy types. The only instance where the Kraken is a better shot is for units with a toughness less than 4 and a decent armour save. As can also be seen, if you can get the Vengeance rounds in rapid fire range, they should cause more wounds on average against most standard infantry, with only those with T5 or greater, or a 6+ armour save being better suited to the Hellfire rounds once more.
There are almost no situations where the Dragonfire Bolts are the best option. The +1 to hit against units in cover is mitigated by the +1 cover save that your opponent is getting in most cases. The only time they may be of use is if your opponent has a better invulnerable save than armour save, where the increased accuracy may help you do more hits.
If we take the Mission Tactics into account, the table looks like this now:
|
Aeldari Guardian (T3, 5+ save) |
Chaos Space Marine
(T4, 3+ save) |
T’au Fire Warrior
(T3, 4+ save) |
Ork Boy
(T4, 6+ save) |
Vehicle/Monster
(T7, 3+ save) |
|
|
Hellfire |
8.7 |
4.3 | 6.5 | 10.9 |
4.3 |
|
Kraken |
8.7 |
3.9 | 7.0 | 7.8 |
2.6 |
| Vengeance | 5.2
(10.5 rapid fire) |
2.6
(5.2 rapid fire) |
4.4
(8.7 rapid fire) |
3.9
(7.8 rapid fire) |
1.7 (3.5 rapid fire) |
As you can see, the great odds of wounding with the Hellfire rounds (as you are re-rolling all your failed wounds) provide a boost for taking on weakly armoured infantry units and monsters. There are a number of other stratagem options to boost your damage output with the special issue ammunition (more on this below).
One of the benefits of the Kraken round is the boost to its rapid fire range. You can now fire two shots with your Bolters at up to 15″ away. This has the benefit of allowing you to deploy from reserve more than 12″ from an enemy unit and still fire two shots with each Bolter. This allows you to avoid many of the interceptor-type stratagems, such as Auspex Scan, stopping your unit from taking casualties before they get a chance to fire. Deploying further away is not so bad, as you generally don’t want the Veterans in combat where their firepower is neutralised.
Weapon Options
The Deathwatch Veteran has a huge array of weapon options available to them, so you can arm the squad for whatever role you wish to use. Because of this diversity, you could really build a Deathwatch army almost entirely composed of Veteran squads and be able to deal with most threats to the enemy army.
The first thing you should always do is take a Chainsword on your Veterans. You have the option to swap your Bolter for a Bolter and a Chainsword. This costs exactly the same, but gives you three attacks in combat. While the Veterans are not amazing in combat, a basic squad with Chainswords will put out 16 attacks, which could be enough to finish off weakened squads or do some damage to an enemy unit at a push.
You also have the option of taking a Bolt Pistol and Bolter on each Veteran. While this does give you some powerful shooting attacks in combat with the pistol, I don’t think it is worth the extra point for how little it will be used.
Probably one of the best options for the Deathwatch is the ability to take a Storm Bolter on each Veteran. Now that Storm Bolters have access to Special Issue Ammunition (SIA), this is a great way to have a Veteran unit put out a lot of strong firepower. A Veteran with a Chainsword and Storm Bolter comes in at 20 pts per model, and is able to put out 4 Bolter Shots with SIA at rapid fire range. For an idea of the damage output of a unit of 10 Veterans with Storm Bolters, just double the values in the table above.
A unit of Veterans with Storm Bolters, back up by a Watch Master and using Hellfire Bolts with Mission Tactics will have about 86% of their shots hit and wound. This means a unit of 10 will put out about 35 wounds on any enemy unit that is not a Vehicle or has the Titanic keyword. This should make a serious dent in most enemy units on the turn that they fire. I have been using a unit of 10 Veterans with Storm Bolters in my Deathwatch army for a few games now and they are a unit to be feared. They normally eliminate an enemy unit on the turn they arrive, but can be brought down quite easily in the following turn, so you need to try and protect them in some fashion, such as Storm Shields.
Up to four Veterans can carry heavy weapons in the squad. The Frag Cannon is still a very powerful option. The Frag Shells put out 2D6 auto-hits with S6 and AP-1. The range is only 8″, meaning you cannot fire it from deep strike, but if you get close to the enemy unit, they will cause a lot of damage. I find that you need at least 2 Frag Cannons in the unit to put out a solid level of firepower, as it is all too easy to whiff on the 2D6 roll for a single Frag Cannon, so having at least one back up is a good idea. The Frag Cannon got a little cheaper in the codex (25 pts each), so taking the full four in a unit is not overly expensive for the firepower they can put out.
You can also use the solid shells for dealing with tougher enemy units. However, I find the solid shell is not great at taking on enemy vehicles. At close range they are S9, making it easier to wound, but they are still only 2 damage each. This actually makes it really tough to severely damage enemy units with a single round of fire from even four Frag Cannons, that will do an average of 6 damage to a T7, 3+ save vehicle at short range.
The other Heavy Weapons options can also be useful in selected circumstances. The Missile Launcher can provide some useful anti-armour firepower for the army (an area where the Deathwatch still lack). This works well on a backfield objective holding unit. The Heavy Bolter can give you access to the Hellfire Shells stratagem, which is a nice way of dealing mortal wounds to the enemy army. The Infernus Heavy Bolter provides some good short range firepower if you fire the Heavy Bolter and Heavy Flamer shots together, but for only an extra 5 pts, I would rather take the Frag Cannon.
Another option that is strong for the Veterans if the Deathwatch Shotgun. A Veteran with a Shotgun comes in at 19 pts each. The shotgun has its own special ammunition, allowing you to fire a S3 flamer, or S4 shots that are re-roll failed wounds or double damage at half range (8″). This is an Assault 2 weapon (D6 for the flame option), so gives you a bit more firepower at long range or allows you to advance and still fire with some degree of accuracy.
There are several other options worth considering for the Veterans as well. You can take combi-weapons on each Veteran if you wish. While this does get very expensive, it can give you some ways to deal with tricky units in the enemy army. For example, a unit of 4 or 5 Combi-Meltas that can deep strike in and take care of enemy vehicles is a nice option for the Deathwatch. You can also use the stratagems to wound them on a 2+, making them even more potent at punching through enemy armour.
The Stalker Pattern Bolter is also a great option, in my opinion. These get 30″ range, Heavy 2, -1AP in addition to special issue ammunition. This makes them a great backfield unit, able to fire up to 36″ away. Sit them on an objective so they don’t have to move and they still get 2 shots up to maximum range. The extra -1AP on top of the special issue ammunition is also a great boost, allowing you to be at -3AP up to 24″ range and still get 10 shots with a unit of 5.
You can also take a Storm Shield with a ranged weapon on a Veteran. Fortunately, the price of each Shield dropped from 15 pts to 5 pts for a non-character model. Before it was way too expensive to take many in squads, but now they are an almost necessary inclusion in a unit. I would take at least one shield for every 5 Veterans in many of my units (perhaps not the backfield ones). The Veterans are still expensive, so the loss of each one hurts in the army. The Storm Shield can help them stay alive a bit longer, by turning away the more powerful shots.
The Veterans also have access to a number of melee options if you are so inclined. I tend not to bother with them. You don’t really want the squad in combat, as this wastes their potent firepower. However, if you want to go for a combat unit of Veterans, you have the option to do so. The Sergeant and Black Shield have 3 attacks each, so a power weapon on one of them might not be a big waste if you do find yourself in combat. However, much of the time, I would rather spend the points on another Storm Shield.
I was really hoping that the Heavy Thunder Hammer would get a big points decrease or a change in profile to make it worth taking in the codex. A Veteran with a Heavy Thunder Hammer costs 46 points. For that, you get 2 attacks that hit on a 4+ at S8. I think the random damage profile is what hurts it. Half the time if you manage to hit and wound, you will be doing equal or less damage than a regular Thunder Hammer. It is simply not worth the points in my opinion, given you can take a regular Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield for 13 pts less. If the Heavy Thunder Hammer was S10 and/or a flat 4 or 5 damage, I could see the appeal of it, but it is pretty worthless as it is at the moment. It’s a real shame, as I think it is a great looking weapon.
Stratagems
The Veterans have access to a number of very useful stratagems that boost their utility on the battlefield. Check out the Deathwatch Stratagems review for a full rundown of the new codex stratagems.
The Doctrines are a great boost for the Deathwatch Veteran squad, giving you +1 to wound against a selected enemy unit. Hellfire shells are a great way of wounding most enemy units on a 2+ without a Doctrine, but there are some situations where you may want to use the Doctrines. For example, using one with a Frag allows you to wound most enemy units on a 2+. They are also useful when targeting enemy vehicles with your Bolters or special weapons. As stated above, a unit of Combi-Meltas will wound most enemy vehicles on a 2+ when combined with a Doctrine. Add in Mission Tactics to re-roll failed wounds of 1, and you can cause a lot of damage in a single round of fire.
Auspex Scan is also great on the Veteran squad, given the power of the special issue ammunition. You can cause a lot of damage to enemy deep strikers on the turn they arrive.
The Teleportarium stratagem is also key to getting the most out of the Veteran squad. This not only helps to keep a unit safe from enemy firepower until the turn they arrive, it also allows you to get into rapid fire range with most of you options the turn they deploy. A unit of 10 Veterans with Storm Bolters will put out 40 shots on the turn they arrive with most ammunition types, enough to do a lot of damage to a variety of enemy units.
Unit Synergy
There are a number of units that help a Deathwatch Veteran squad perform better on the battlefield.
A Watch Master or Watch Captain is great for providing the unit with re-rolls to hit. The Watch Master gives full re-rolls to hit, while the Watch Captain gives re-rolls of 1’s to hit. The benefit of the Watch Captain is that he can be given a Jump Pack, allowing him to deploy from reserve without using a stratagem to accompany a unit of Veterans in the Teleportarium. These characters can also take the Tome of Ectoclades. This allows you to grant a different Mission Tactics to units within 6″. This is very useful for selecting the optimum Mission Tactics for the target of the Veteran squad after they arrive from the Teleportarium, maximising their damage output.
Transport vehicles are also a solid option for the Deathwatch Veteran squad. A Rhino or Razorback gives the squad a chance of getting close to the enemy army in relative safety. This is great for getting their Bolters into rapid fire range or for getting in to close range to use the Frag Cannons. The Razorback also has the bonus of being one of the few units that can take a Lascannon. The Twin Lascannon can provide some nice anti-tank firepower to the Deathwatch army.
The Corvus Blackstar is a nice transport option for allowing you to get up the field very quickly. It also has the benefit of being the only transport vehicle capable of taking mixed Kill Teams if you cannot use the Teleportarium stratagem.
Overall
The Deathwatch Veteran squad is a solid addition to the Deathwatch army. While they lack the durability of the Deathwatch Intercessor squad, they do have several useful weapon options not available to the Primaris Marines. For this, they are still a useful addition to the army if you can arm them appropriately.
The Kill Team with Storm Bolters is a solid option and one I think you will see a lot with the Deathwatch, able to put out a lot of firepower that is boosted even further by special issue ammunition.
This first part of the review looked at the basic Veteran squad. The next part will look at the options for the mixed Kill Teams that you can field with the Deathwatch.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
Dragonfire’s purpose is to dig out units that have penalties to hit, such as Rangers. When you’re hitting on 5+s, the +1 starts to look a lot more attractive. (They are definitely the most niche of the four rounds, though.)
Storm Bolters are the real secret to Veterans, and pretty much the only reason to take them over Intercessors; mix in a few Storm Shields and maybe one or two melee weapons and you have a solid little packet, albeit not a cheap one.
Yup. Storm Bolters and Chainswords, all day. Makes them incredibly good.
It does help a little with units at -1 to hit, but in most cases it is fairly even on the number of unsaved wounds thanks to the bonus to the cover save.
I’ve just converted a unit of 10 Veterans with Storm Bolters. They are incredibly good coming in from deep strike, causing a ton of damage on the turn they arrive though. The only problem is they don’t stick around for long if they are targeted.
Yeah, I am going to run 3 units of units of 10 equipped that way.
I also want to try a unit of 5 with 4 Frag Cannons in a Razorback.
In my most recent games I’ve been running a good mix of units:
– 10 Veterans with Storm Bolters
– 2 x 5 Veterans with 2 Missile Launchers
– 5 Veterans with Stalker Pattern Bolters
– 5 Veterans with Shotguns
– 5 Veterans with 2 Frag Cannons.
– 10 Intercessors
The Stalkers are pretty solid. The extra -1 makes a big difference and the two shots at 30″ is great for taking out monsters with Hellfire shells.
I don’t bother with mixed kill teams much of the time as the Veterans are a solid core for the army.
Yeah, i was looking at 5 strong units with Stalkers, too, to camp objectives.
I’ve had a lot of success with 5 Veterans with 2 Frag Cannons in a twin assault cannon Razorback. Keeping the Deathwatch Vets protected in transports has been key in my experience.This set up was the core on my undefeated pre-codex list, and they’ve just gotten cheaper and more efficient. I was running the 3 extra veterans with bolter + chainsword, though now that would be upgraded to storm bolter + chainsword. I might throw in a power sword on the sergeant to give a little bit more combat punch.
I do really like the look of the unit of 10 vets with storm bolters + chainswords deepstriking and putting out a ton of dakka. Adding a couple of storm shields would help with durability too. However, the one thing I would definitely add to that set up is a vanguard veteran – you’ll be deepstriking, so the transport incompatibility isn’t an issue, and seeing as you’ll be deploying close to the enemy, you’ll need the ability to fall back and shoot.
Yeah, adding in the Vanguard Veteran is a good shout. However, in my experience, the squad rarely survives the enemy shooting phase in the following turn, so not sure how useful the Vanguard would be for the loss of the extra shots.
Nothing sticks around long if they’re targeted, but unlike Intercessors, Veterans have ways to mitigate the hardcore marine killers. Add one Terminator to soak up lots of AP- fire and a couple storm shields to tank anything else.
Honestly Primaris look better than veterans only on paper. Unless you deploy them with deep strike (which is easily countered) they can’t meaningfully contribute to the fight. And even if you deploy them within Rapid Fire range the amount of fire they can throw is just too small. Also the amount of 2dmg weapons is so vast that 2 wound models (without access to inv saves or 2+ sv) have an only small edge vs 1 wound models. Sorry but I call bullshit on the whole “Intercessors are the superior choice”.
I actually find my Veterans die most to small arms fire. In this respect, the Intercessors do have some added durability in having two wounds each.
As for the lack of firepower; in my last two games, a unit of Intercessors supported by the Watch Master have taken out an enemy vehicle on the turn they arrived. They are pretty good for dealing with vehicles when using the Doctrine and the Vengeance shells.
I almost always deploy most of my vets with at least one termie in the squad (and at least with one another model with storm shield) so this hasn’t been an issue for me. In fact once my Kill Team (7 vets, vv with storm shield and termie), took fire from necron monolith, and 30 necron warriors in total, and I still had 3 models left after that… But I don’t bother with DW battalion, and just deploy patrol detachment [1 – 2 troops in transport (Corvus, land raider) supported by HQ] with guard providing CP for my army.
Also what vehicle you are talking about? I’m just curious if about 330 pts and 1-2 CP combo made their points back.
It was a four Lascannon shot Predator with Sorcerer for Prescience nearby. While points wise it may not match up, I think it was worth it. It allowed my Rhinos and Bikers to break cover and go after the enemy targets once it was out of way, allowing me to threaten my opponent’s lines.
Good for you, but I can’t help out to think that for 80 points less, you could’ve achieved the same result with 2 combi meltas (and maaaybe tempest shels). I just can’t think of anything that primaris do better than vets (or some allies) for the same amount of points. I mean the predator with four lascannons is one unit for 190 points. And you just spent 330 points and about 4 CPs (two for deep strike, two for +1 to wound) to kill it. I wouldn’t call it a decent trade-off. Almost every army has an access to some form of a cheap screen, to deny enemy deep strike, so I’m not convinced it a valid strategy.
Maybe I’m minority but until recently I almost always (aside from a couple of games when the 8th dropped when I tried to play DW like in 7th: MSU and pure one faction force), deploy fully kitted kill team in Corvus or a land raider – all in all about 800 points – while the rest of an army is made of my guard.
Every time these guys made where I wanted them to be (easy with the Blackstar – who now again has the amazing halo launcher) they just obliterated 1/3 enemy army in a single turn (no joke).
After the codex dropped I’m experimenting much more: stalker pattern boltguns are good again, bikers too, so there is much more to come up with. And I think that’s it – primaris are really viable as two things: deep striking with plasmas or bare intercessors, or as a battalion filler with “cheap” wounds. It does have its uses I’ll grant you that, but honestly aside from “cheap bodies” part veterans do everything better. They have transports that are useful, they can be customised to fill a certain role (cqc, anti tank, anti horde) and if played well are really point efficient.
That doesn’t sound like the inferior choice. At best they are about equal, at worst vets are vastly superior.
You are assuming the Watch Master only accompanied the Intercessors. I also had a unit of Storm Bolter Veterans drop in to target another unit and benefit from his re-rolls.
I am not saying the Intercessors are amazing, but they are worth trying out in a list. I’m just getting used to playing games with the new codex, so it will take time to test out the new Primaris units and see whether they are effective. At the moment, they have performed quite well for me in games. This may change over time, but that is what playing is for.
Michael:
With just how build-a-bear DW Veterans can be–and especially in the context of FLG’s Situational/Efficient/Competitive rating system–I think it would be helpful to treat certain popular builds (or theoretical builds to show what could go wrong) as separate units for the purposes of review.
Just something to consider.
Thanks!
Thanks for the suggestion Indy, that is a really good idea. Would allow me to focus on individual builds and go over some more indepth tactics, rather than just giving a general overview.
Thanks for the write up. Nice to see that Deathwatch won’t end up all Primaris all the time, as I really like the flexibility of the Veterans. I hope to see you do a whole bunch of articles on Deathwatch in time!
Glad you liked it. Hoping to get most of the codex reviews written up in the coming weeks as I test out the army.
Great article! I have been having good luck of late against a number of lists using a jump pack captain with beacon angelis to shunt a 10 man storm bolter squad up field turn 1 for a mini-alpha. By deploying the vets out of line of sight and the captain behind a suitable screen at the edge of deployment, it is pretty easy to shove them within double-tap range of something decent.
Yeah, that is a solid tactic to get around the deep striking on turn 1 limitation. I’ve been running a Watch Captain with Jump Pack and Relic Blade in many of my games, they are pretty effective.
Also been having some good performance with a Captain with Xenophase blade. Great for taking out weaker characters or putting wounds on models with a decent invulnerable save.
Ive been really enjoying dropping 5x Intercessors and 5x Aggressors in though deepstrike, And saving my combi melta vets in blackstars. The codex is a ton of fun. Looking forward to more coverage.
What do you see as the benefit of the mixed Intercessor and Aggressor unit over just the Aggressors? Is it simply ablative wounds?
Yeah, I’m enjoying the codex, think it has given the Deathwatch back their competitive edge. Hoping to post up some Deathwatch battle reports in the coming weeks.