With 9th Edition right around the corner now, we are getting closer to seeing all the factions in the Faction Focus series for 40k. Here is Deathwatch.
Remember that you can do a quick search on the site to pull up all the Faction Focus articles.
Faction Focus Deathwatch
via WarCom
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/07/06/faction-focus-deathwatch/
Mitch: So what’s been improved by the edition for ‘the boys in black’? Well, let’s begin with what might be the most important change to the game – battlefield size. With the minimum size of a Strike Force game going down to a 60″x44″ board, the mainstay gun of the Deathwatch kill team, namely the storm bolter, gets even more deadly.
Let’s also not forget that, with many armies now having access to ways of ignoring AP -1 modifiers (or AP -2 if you’re playing against Adepta Sororitas of the Valorous Heart), Special Issue Ammunition and the Tactical Doctrine can turn your horde-mulching boltgun fire into an armor-shredding AP -2 and AP -3, which can easily bring down units relying on 2+ saves to survive. Combine that with your Deathwatch Veterans’ easy access to storm shields and you have one of the most versatile Troops units in the game.
Other tricks you can employ to protect your limited numbers include using the Tactical Flexibility Stratagem to make your 10-man kill teams into units of 5 at a moment’s notice should you face an enemy army packing loads of Blast weapons. You can also use Obscuring terrain to hide as many of your units as possible out of line of sight, then keep the rest of your forces in Strategic Reserves. This can force your opponent to play more defensively or risk opening up a flank or backfield opportunity for you to teleport into and lay waste to more vulnerable units or maybe even pick off one of their key Characters.
I haven’t even gotten into the movement tricks you can pull off with teleport homers – suffice it to say that the Deathwatch are a force to be reckoned with heading into the new edition, so get out there and suffer not the alien to live!
Intercessors
Corvus Blackstar
Corvus Blackstar
