Prot's War in the Warp

I’m still really enjoying Kill Team and have enjoyed one offs at the store and the campaign I’m in. To be quite frank the Deathwatch have been by far my worst team. They’ve died so many times I’m pretty sure there is a shortage of Deathwatch all over the place…. Guilliman! Send me some more Primaris Reinforcements!?

And just like that he heard me. He heard me and delivered on to my Kill Team a fist full of Primaris. “No Choice.” He said. There would be no other option to reinforce my Kill Team (be it Ultramarines/Astrartes OR Deathwatch).

Wait there is a beacon of hope. I could find one way of reinforcing my Kill Team with a grizzled vet who has stomped a truckload of Orks in his day; enter the Watchmaster!

So upon reading the Commander’s Expansion for Kill Team I see the Watchmaster comes in at a whooping 125 points! WOW. So I have to ask the league if it’s okay if we go to 150 points so I can field 2 Deathwatch! (one of them has the hold the Watchmaster’s coffee I suppose.)

That was a real turn off for me. I understand he’s got a 2+ save in a game that doesn’t promote such stats (there are no terminators). But this is so cost prohibitive I really have to say I’m very disappointed that Games Workshop didn’t give us something inbetween… What about a savvy Artemis type Captain? It seems crazy to not allow that at this point in the game.

So what about Primaris? GW is pushing Primaris very hard on us right now. They aren’t working in 40K (design wise) to a large degree so this is the next level of hard push. I know this angers a large player group, and while I love the Primaris line personally, I do concede this time that I think GW are hurting themselves with these limited options.

Now that being said why not “Deathwatch” exclusive Primaris? Right now our Deathwatch armies can take a Primaris Apothecary. I’d love to see him as an option for us. (He’s not available to Astartes Kill Teams as I write this.)

The Death Guard have an option for the Plague Surgeon Commander so we have precedent for it. Why was this not even an option for Deathwatch?

A little outside the box but what I would have loved to have seen is a Deathwatch Kill Team Commander based on a special bad-ass Reiver. These guys are clutch in the background and really seem to fit into Kill Team (and Deathwatch) really well.

I’m reading Blood of Iax right now and I’ll tell you the Reivers kind of steal the show. Orks everywhere should definitely fear these dudes!

What Should a Deathwatch Kill Team Player Do for a Commander Choice?

What it boils down to is Primaris. The Watchmaster might be a ‘fun’ option but literally you’re going to have 1 model, perhaps 2 on the table and it will get boring fast.

So what I did was skip buying the Watchmaster box, and instead I bought the Primaris Librarian box:

What we get in the Astartes section are the legal, cheaper options for Deathwatch. The HQ’s there are able to use the Deathwatch Keyword and will fit right in.

Let’s have a look in the box:

Like most Primaris HQ’s I think we can agree they are awkward in 40K and typically over costed. This is probably why they are our only choice in Kill Team. I imagine there are a LOT of Primaris Librarian kits sitting in warehouses around the world!

The set is good for what it is. A special power called “Storm Caller” and the set of Tactics for the other Primaris options to lead your team.

The Captain might end up being the best one, or perhaps the economic Lieutenant that I will end up using in my Ultramarines. Even the Chaplain could be deadly if mixed with Black Shields and/or Reivers!

So personally I will probably not use the Watchmaster aside from testing him out, and I’d recommend that the Deathwatch player just stick to the Astartes options which see flexible enough to fit into the Commander role for our Kill Teams as well!