Deathwatch and Raven Guard

So I decided to start on a small new project today. Well, to be honest, I kind of pondered on the decision for a little over a week now. I had been fluctuating back and forth on what to do with my Havocs/Devastators and the Contemptor and Deredeo Dreadnoughts that I have that weren't a fit for my Thousand Sons.

Deathwatch Kill Team with 5 storm bolters, 5 chainswords and a combat shield!

If you've been following my posts so far, you might probably know that I originally bought the MKIII Marines to build a bunch of Alpha Legion Havocs to ally with my Thousand Sons, particularly because my Thousand Sons seriously lacked anti-tank and anti-vehicle firepower. It worked for a bit, especially since I could do a Battalion Detachment with Alpha Legion Guardsmen (Cultists), the Havocs with 4 lascannons and a combi-plasma, and putting the Contemptor Dreadnought with two twin lascannons (which I proxied as butcher cannons beccause I didn't have the correct model, and for some inane reason Chaos couldn't take any twin lascannons for their Hellforged Contemptor Dreadnoughts...go figure) and the Deredeo Dreadnought in the Alpha Legion Detachment to improve their survivability. Needless to say, I always forgot about the -1 penalty to hit rolls for my enemies' shooting units over 12" away. Furthermore, dedicating a big chunk of points to an Alpha Legion Battalion meant that I was forced to remove psykers from my list, which was painful, and also reduced the number of Sorcerers I could take, since a single Thousand Sons Battalion only allowed me to take 3 HQ - and I was taking about 4 HQ (Ahzek Ahriman, Daemon Prince of Tzeentch, an Exalted Sorcerer on disc that wielded dual power swords, and an Exalted Sorcerer on foot) whenever I took pure Thousand Sons. The Alpha Legion allies just sucked too much of my favorite psychic stuff from my Thousand Sons, and let's be serious. I play Thousand Sons for the psychic phase and all the cool sorcerery and stuff. Forcing an Alpha Legion ally just to take care of tanks like a Baneblade, or Knights, or Land Raiders, or other high Toughness, excellent armor save vehicles just sucked the fun out of my list and reduced its psychic potential. Furthermore, I got sick of tagging an Alpha Legion ally along for the sake of anti-tank, and I wanted more psychic spells. So in the end I took the Havocs out and left the Dreadnoughts in my pure Thousand Sons list. Pure Thousand Sons with psychic firepower was a lot more fun than Chaos Soup that forced me to tailor my list to deal with my opponent's tanks. Ugh. Furthermore, I wanted to get a proper Thousand Sons Contemptor Dreadnought instead of proxying a Contemptor Dreadnought with 2 twin lascannons as butcher cannons, as it didn't really fit aesthetically wise. As an aside, the base for the Horus Heresy Ahriman was too big, and I didn't feel comfortable using him as an Aspiring Sorcerer. So I bought another Aspiring Sorcerer. Well, actually, I bought a single Rubric Marine, a force stave, and then used my spare parts (Aspiring Sorcerer head and inferno bolt pistol) to turn him into an Aspiring Sorcerer. Now the base is the right side, and he looks more natural alongside them than 30K Ahriman.

Death Reapers (using Raven Guard Chapter Tactics) Devastators and Havocs

So what do I do with my former Alpha Legion Havocs? I dunno. What do I do with my two twin lascannon Contemptor Dreadnought? I have no idea either. I basically made use of the units I had to build a Spearhead Detachment by changing my Havocs' allegiance to Loyalists, and turning them into Devastators. So now they're Loyalists, and I chose the Raven Guard Chapter Tactic for them because it seemed the most suitable for shooty Dreadnoughts. Fortunately, unlike the Chaos dudes, the Loyalists had access not only to Contemptor Dreadnoughts with 2 twin lascannons, they were in the Heavy Support slot and didn't count as Relic - they were called Contemptor Mortis Dreadnoughts. Having ordered a Contemptor Dreadnought that possessed dual twin autocannons so that it could better represent the butcher cannons, I decided to put him with the other Contemptor Mortis Dreadnought with dual twin lascannons instead, and with the Devastators and the Captain with a combi-plasma and Iron Halo, I ended up with a Spearhead Detachment. Yay!

Aspiring Sorcerer and Watch Captain with Relic Blade and Master-crafted boltgun. Probably over did the master-crafted though. Should trim away some parts for the gun to be visible.

So now that I had a Spearhead Detachment of Raven Guard Dreadnoughts and Devastators, what was the next step? The Raven Guard dudes provided anti-tank firepower. Unfortunately, my Imperial Guard didn't need anti-tank firepower - the Astra Militarum was already capable of spamming lascannons and lots of anti-tank weaponry. The Raven Guard dudes would be redundant there. No, I needed to find a faction that lacked anti-tank weaponry, but could kill non-vehicle units pretty well.
That's where the Deathwatch comes in.

If you remember, a few months ago - during summer - I was seriously considering building a Deathwatch army. And now's my chance to do so. Yay! So I bought another box of Mark III Space Marines, procured a bunch of bits to customize my Deathwatch army. Basically, I bought 5 inferno combi-bolters from the Scarab Occult Terminators to serve as storm bolters for my Deathwatch Kill Team. The remaining models were turned into plasma guys, so that I could have a squad of Company Veterans all sporting plasma guns. This was handed over to the Raven Guard Detachment in order to unlock an Elite slot for the Relic Deredeo Dreadnought. All the automata were in my Raven Guard Spearhead Detachment, and being Dreadnoughts, they receive the Chapter Tactics (-1 penalty to hit rolls for enemy units shooting at them from over 12" away), thus increasing their survivability. Awesome. I also obtained a Primaris Captain in gravis armor, but for some weird reason Deathwatch can't take Captain in gravis armor (what the hell?! Why?!), so I've to slot him into the Raven Guard Detachment instead. Makes no sense, but whatever. Rules are rules.

Deathwatch Kill Team with 5 storm bolters!

As for my Deathwatch, I didn't intend to create a pure Deathwatch army anyway. I only wanted a handful of Kill Teams to build a pretty fluffy list. So my Deathwatch actually acts more like saviors who plunged into a world teeming with xenos life and reinforce Imperial forces on the verge of being overrun by hostile xenos. So like my Imperial Guard. I always wanted to ally my Imperial Guard with Deathwatch Kill Teams and all the cool gear they get. It makes for an awesome, thematic, fluffy list! A regiment of Imperial Guard attempting to hold the line against overwhelming waves of xenos, using their infantry and tanks (lots of tanks), and the Deathwatch shows up, performs surgical strikes to decapitate the leadership or whatever serves as the brain/commander of the xenos, and the surviving Astra Militarum armor would smash the beleaguered and confused xenos remainders into oblivion with their sheer firepower. That was also why I got another bunch of Deathwatch frag cannons, so that I can create a Kill Team that packs nothing but Deathwatch frag cannons! And the Corvus Blackstar is also something I always wanted to get my hands on. Using Intercessors to make up the rest of the Troops requirements, I would get a Battalion of Deathwatch with all that cool gear and stuff!

So now my current list looks like this:

Deathwatch (Death Reapers specialized) Battalion:

Watch Captain with master-crafted boltgun and relic blade
Primaris Watch Captain with master-crafted stalker bolt rifle and power sword
5 Veterans with storm bolters and chainswords - Sergeant with combat shield
5 Veterans, Sergeant with xenophase blade and storm shield, 4 Veterans with Deathwatch frag cannons
5 Intercessors with bolt rifles and auxiliary grenade launcher, Sergeant with power sword
5 Intercessors with stalker bolt rifles and auxiliary grenade launcher, Sergeant with power sword
Corvus Blackstar with Blackstar rocket launcher, twin lascannon and auspex array

Raven Guard (Death Reapers) Spearhead:

Primaris Captain in Gravis Armor
5 Company Veterans with combi-plasma, 4 plasma guns and 5 chainswords
Relic Deredeo Dreadnought with Anvilus autocannon battery and Aiolos missile launcher
Contemptor Mortis Dreadnought with two twin lascannons
Contemptor Mortis Dreadnought with two twin autocannons
Devastators with 4 lascannons

That should be enough for a 2,000-point list, and unlike Thousand Sons, I don't intend on playing a full or pure Deathwatch list. The reason why I play Deathwatch is for the Special Issue Ammunition and the cool gadgets and weapons and toys (Deathwatch frag cannons, Corvus Blackstar), but I don't intend to spam them the way I did psychic powers. Psychic powers are more...flexible, fun and spammable, but I prefer to have a variety of models - hence my Thousand Sons have 4 different types of Sorcerers (one of whom is a Daemon Prince). Plus the Aspiring Sorcerers and Scarab Occult Terminator can take whatever psychic power they want. But I sure as hell don't intend to spam storm bolters or Deathwatch frag cannons.

Company Veterans all equipped with plasma guns! Sergeant gets a combi-plasma instead.

An alternative list to this, if I don't need that much anti-tank and lascannons, would be a more fluffy list where I ally my Deathwatch to my Imperial Guard. That's the whole reason why I'm getting a small Deathwatch force in the first place - to see how else they synergize with the Astra Militarum, and I want to weave thematic narratives of the Imperial Guard attempting to hold the line against impossible odds, only for the Deathwatch to deliver a surgical strike to a strategic target so that the Astra Militarum armor can turn the tide and hammer the confused and beleaguered foe into oblivion after their command is disrupted. Yay.

So it'll look like this:

Deathwatch (Death Reapers specialized) Battalion:

Watch Captain with master-crafted boltgun and relic blade
Primaris Watch Captain with master-crafted stalker bolt rifle and power sword
5 Veterans with storm bolters and chainswords - Sergeant with combat shield
5 Veterans, Sergeant with xenophase blade and storm shield, 4 Veterans with Deathwatch frag cannons
5 Intercessors with bolt rifles and auxiliary grenade launcher, Sergeant with power sword
5 Intercessors with stalker bolt rifles and auxiliary grenade launcher, Sergeant with power sword
Corvus Blackstar with Blackstar rocket launcher, twin lascannon and auspex array

Astra Militarum (Draconian Infantry Defenders) Battalion:

Company Commander with plasma pistol
Company Commander with plasma pistol
Infantry squad with 1 plasma gun
Infantry squad with 1 plasma gun
Infantry squad with 1 plasma gun

Astra Militarum (Draconian Armored Defenders) Spearhead:

Tank Commander in Leman Russ main battle tank with lascannon and heavy flamers
Leman Russ Executioner tank with lascannon and plasma cannons
Leman Russ Executioner tank with lascannon and plasma cannons
Leman Russ Annihilator tank with lascannon and plasma cannons

Now this is more like it! This is quite a fluffy and thematic list, where the Imperial Guard armored regiment is holed up in a fortress and defending against waves after waves of xenos, only for the Deathwatch Kill Teams to race forward in their Corvus Blackstar or teleport behind enemy lines to perform surgical strikes on key enemy units and commanders, or reinforce weakening portions of the Astra Militarum defense and also raising morale while delivering death to the enemies of the Emperor. And I love Leman Russ tanks, so I'm pretty pleased to see so many of them here! YAY! For the Emperor!

The final Deathwatch list that I have in mind is also a super-fluffy one. The Ordo Xenos version - so basically an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with his retinue of Inquisitorial Stormtroopers making up the numbers to reinforce a Deathwatch platoon that lacks bodies. So it'll look something like this.

Ordo Xenos Inquisitorial Army

Inquisition Auxiliary

Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with incinerator and power maul

Inquisitorial Stormtrooper Retinue (Battalion)

Tempestor Prime with Tempestus command rod
Tempestor Prime with Tempestus command rod
Tempestor Prime with Tempestus command rod
Tempestus command squad with 4 plasma guns
Tempestus command squad with 4 plasma guns
Tempestus command squad with 4 meltaguns
5 Militarum Tempestus Scions with 2 plasma guns
5 Militarum Tempestus Scions with 2 plasma guns
10 Kasrkins with 4 hot-shot volley guns
Taurox Prime with Taurox gatling cannon, 2 hot-shot volley guns and storm bolter
Valkyrie with multiple rocket pods, lascannon and heavy bolters

Deathwatch (Death Reapers specialized) Battalion:

Watch Captain with master-crafted boltgun and relic blade
Primaris Watch Captain with master-crafted stalker bolt rifle and power sword
5 Veterans with storm bolters and chainswords - Sergeant with combat shield
5 Veterans, Sergeant with xenophase blade and storm shield, 4 Veterans with Deathwatch frag cannons
5 Intercessors with bolt rifles and auxiliary grenade launcher, Sergeant with power sword
5 Intercessors with stalker bolt rifles and auxiliary grenade launcher, Sergeant with power sword
Corvus Blackstar with Blackstar rocket launcher, twin lascannon and auspex array

This is my favorite thematic army, for everything is Ordo Xenos. Everything. Awesome, right? If only I can take the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor as part of my Inquisitorial Stormtrooper detachment instead of taking him as an auxiliary...ugh. Oh well. At least I tried. Anyway, this is the plan I have in mind, so until next time!