r/deathwatch40k

I'm making a return to Deathwatch after a hiatus in the last part of 10th. I've been playing Drukhari mostly in 11th so far but wanted to try out some other armies and see . Seeing that BSTF is 3DP and Purge the Foe is the only disposition option, is that a good fit for us?

I want to try building out some lists and try some games with them. Is it still primarily Indomitor Killteams and Veterans like it was in 10th or have other units been able to shine?

When I was starting out, I found Deathwatch to be a very confusing faction to understand, I watched videos, scrolled forums and even asked in my local Warhammer shop however none of that really enlightened me so I understood what was going on. This is why I have created this guide, aimed at new players and veterans of the hobby alike so everyone is on equal footing and understands what Deathwatch entails.

There are 2 ways to play Deathwatch, playing them as standard Space Marines with none of the Deathwatch benefits using the standard rules in the Codex: Space Marines OR using the Deathwatch army rule (what we are going to dive into).

Just like other Space Marine factions such as Dark Angels, you can run any of the standard detachments in Codex: Space Marines, however where Deathwatch shines in their exclusive detachment and army rule, the rules for these are free on the app and the Warhammer Community website (as well as other sources, wahapedia, newrecruit etc.).

Just because you can use the Kill Teams, does not mean you have to! You can run the Talonstrike Kill Team as Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs and use their normal ability however if you are running the Black Spear Task Force detachment for 3dp*, the Deathwatch exclusive Kill Teams are your most valued units. These are denoted by the kill team keyword.

*Don't forget, even at 1k games you can take a single 3dp detachment so you will always be able to run it if you wish!

These units are (as of 08/2026):
Deathwatch Veterans (a bit of an oddball, I will explain later)
Decimus Kill Team
Deathwatch Terminator Squad
Fortis Kill Team
Indomitor Kill Team
Spectrus Kill Team
Talonstrike Kill Team

Other Deathwatch units that are not classified as Kill Teams (as of 08/2026):
Watch Captain Artemis
Watch Master
Corvus Blackstar

Building the Kill Teams can feel very confusing, each Kill Team has multiple different units that can go into them. These are the units (as labelled on the Warhammer website) that can go into each Kill Team (as of 08/2026):

Decimus Kill Team - Deathwatch Kill Team (kill team box)

Deathwatch Terminator Squad - Terminators (main unit), Assault Terminators

Fortis Kill Team - Intercessors (main unit), Hellblaster Squad, Assault Intercessors, Infernus squad, desolation squad

Indomitor Kill Team - Heavy Intercessor Squad (main unit), Aggressor Squad, Primaris Eradicators

Spectrus Kill Team - Infiltrator Squad (main unit), Eliminators, Incursor Squad, Reiver Squad

Talonstrike Kill Team - Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs (main unit), Inceptor Squad

You have probably noticed that Deathwatch Veterans are not on that list, this is becuase they are a little weird, the Deathwatch Veterans box has been removed from the Warhammer website for quite a while now. In my opinion the intention was to replace the Veterans with the Decimus Kill Team, my reasoning for this is that they have mostly the same weapons and the unit ability is the same, there are a few differences and statistically, the Veterans are better. However, I cannot in good conscience recommend any player wanting to start Deathwatch to dedicate the time and effort into a unit that I think is imminent for Legends (to be honest, I'm surprised it didn't get Legends going into 11th).

To round out, there are some other really good guides on here such as this guide by u/PanzerCommanderKat who breaks down a buying list and loadouts better than I ever could. https://www.reddit.com/r/deathwatch40k/comments/1khujy6/starting_deathwatch_killteam_guide/?utm_name=web3xcss

If you have any amendments where I have made mistakes I am more than happy to adjust 😄

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?