Deathwatch
It is the task of the Deathwatch to defend the Imperium from the ravages of the xenos, countless species of which threaten Mankind in every corner of the galaxy. For thousands of years the Deathwatch have remained true to their endless task. Drawing their numbers from almost every Space Marine Chapter, each is an elite alien killer of proven skill in battle.
Books
| Book | Kind | Edition | Version | Last update |
 Deathwatch | ||||
| Deathwatch | Index | 10 | January 2024 | |
 Balance Dataslate | ||||
| Balance Dataslate | Rulebook | 10 | January 2024 | January 2024 |
 Munitorum Field Manual | ||||
| Munitorum Field Manual | Expansion | 10 | 1.6 | January 2024 |
 Space Marines | ||||
| Space Marines | Codex | 10 | 1.0 | November 2023 |
 Legends: Adeptus Astartes | ||||
| Legends: Adeptus Astartes | Datasheet | 10 | August 2023 | |
 Horus Heresy Legends: Adeptus Astartes | ||||
| Horus Heresy Legends: Adeptus Astartes | Datasheet | 10 | June 2023 | |
 Imperial Armour: Space Marines | ||||
| Imperial Armour: Space Marines | Datasheet | 10 | June 2023 | |
Army Rules
Kill Team
When faced with an array of missions to complete and varying enemies to lay low, the Deathwatch are highly adept at forming effective kill teams that mesh starkly diverse armour and equipment.
Each time an attack targets a KILL TEAM unit from your army that contains models with different Toughness characteristics, until the attacking unit has finished making its attacks, use the Toughness characteristic of the majority of the models in that unit when determining what roll is required for that attack to successfully wound. If two or more Toughness characteristics are tied for majority, use the highest value.For the purposes of determining which models can embark within a TRANSPORT model, Kill Team Terminator models, Kill Team Outrider models, Kill Team Biker models and models equipped with a jump pack each take up the space of 2 models, but can otherwise embark within any TRANSPORT their unit can embark within, even though similar models in other units may have the TERMINATOR, MOUNTED or JUMP PACK keywords.
For the purposes of interacting with terrain features, all models in units with the Kill Team ability are treated as INFANTRY, even though similar models in other units may have the MOUNTED or JUMP PACK keywords.
Designer’s Note: While the slight abstractions in the above rules cause some models to behave differently to similar models in other units, they are designed to minimise unusual or complicated movement, TRANSPORT and Benefit of Cover effects.
Bolt Weapons
The following are bolt weapons:- Absolvor bolt pistol
- Assault bolters
- Auto boltstorm gauntlets
- Bolt carbine
- Bolt pistol
- Bolt rifle
- Bolt sniper rifle
- Boltgun
- Boltstorm gauntlet
- Centurion bolters
- Combi-bolter
- Combi-weapon
- Deathwatch twin boltgun
- Forge bolter
- Hellfire Extremis
- Infernus heavy bolter – heavy bolter profile
- Instigator bolt carbine
- Long Vigil ranged weapon
- Marksman bolt carbine
- Master-crafted bolt rifle
- Master-crafted boltgun
- Master-crafted heavy bolt rifle
- Master-crafted scoped bolt carbine
- Master-crafted special issue bolt pistol
- Occulus bolt carbine
- Special issue bolt pistol
- Sternguard bolt pistol
- Sternguard bolt rifle
- Sternguard heavy bolter
- Storm bolter
- Twin bolt rifle
- Twin boltgun
- Twin heavy bolter
- Vigil spear
Black Spear Task Force
Detachment Rule
If your Army Faction is ADEPTUS ASTARTES, you can use this Black Spear Task Force Detachment rule.RESTRICTIONS
- Your army can include DEATHWATCH units, but it cannot include any ADEPTUS ASTARTES units drawn from any other Chapter.
- Your army cannot include any of the following units: ASSAULT SQUAD; ASSAULT SQUAD WITH JUMP PACKS; ATTACK BIKE SQUAD; DEVASTATOR SQUAD; LAND SPEEDER STORM; SCOUT SQUAD; SCOUT SNIPER SQUAD; TACTICAL SQUAD.
Mission Tactics
Thousands of years of collated strategic data and hard-won combat experience have provided the Deathwatch with the ultimate battlefield tactics to combat almost any foe.
At the start of your Command phase, you can select one of the Mission Tactics listed below. Until the start of your next Command phase, that Mission Tactic is active and its effects apply to all units from your army with this ability. Each Mission Tactic can only be selected once per battle.FUROR TACTICS When the enemy horde grows close, the Deathwatch will be tasked with the decimation of their core. Aiming not for clinical kills but for maximum destruction over a wide area, they tear the heart from the enemy army. While this Mission Tactic is active, weapons equipped by ADEPTUS ASTARTES units from your army have the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] ability. |
MALLEUS TACTICS When the giants of war lumber forth, the Deathwatch will adopt Malleus tactics. Even the largest behemoth has a weak point, and the archives of the Deathwatch number them all. While this Mission Tactic is active, weapons equipped by ADEPTUS ASTARTES units from your army have the [LETHAL HITS] ability. |
PURGATUS TACTICS By adopting Purgatus tactics, the Deathwatch focus their deadly ire upon the commanders of the enemy host, assassinating them one after another with pitiless head shots and killing thrusts of the blade. While this Mission Tactic is active, each time an ADEPTUS ASTARTES unit from your army makes an attack, if a Critical Hit is scored, that attack has the [PRECISION] ability. |
Stratagems
If you are using the Black Spear Task Force Detachment rule, you can use these Black Spear Task Force Stratagems.TARGET: One ADEPTUS ASTARTES unit from your army that was selected as the target of one or more of the attacking unit’s attacks.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, each time an attack targets your unit, worsen the Armour Penetration characteristic of that attack by 1.
TARGET: Up to two KILL TEAM units from your army, or one other ADEPTUS ASTARTES INFANTRY unit from your army.
EFFECT: Remove those units from the battlefield. In the Reinforcements step of your next Movement phase, set each of those units up anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy models.
RESTRICTIONS: You cannot select any units that are within Engagement Range of one or more enemy units.
TARGET: Up to two KILL TEAM units from your army, or one other ADEPTUS ASTARTES unit your army.
EFFECT: For each unit targeted, select the Furor Tactics, Malleus Tactics or Purgatus Tactics. Until the start of your next Command phase, that Mission Tactic is active for that unit instead of any Mission Tactic that is active for your army.
TARGET: Up to two KILL TEAM units from your army that have not been selected to shoot this phase, or one other ADEPTUS ASTARTES unit from your army (excluding VEHICLES) that has not been selected to shoot this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, bolt weapons (excluding Devastating Wounds weapons) equipped by models in your unit have the [ANTI-INFANTRY 2+] and [ANTI-MONSTER 5+] abilities
RESTRICTIONS: You cannot select any units that have already been targeted with either the Kraken Rounds or Dragonfire Rounds Stratagems this phase.
TARGET: Up to two KILL TEAM units from your army that have not been selected to shoot this phase, or one other ADEPTUS ASTARTES unit from your army (excluding VEHICLES) that has not been selected to shoot this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, improve the Armour Penetration characteristic of bolt weapons equipped by models in your unit by 1 and improve the range characteristic of those weapons by 6.
RESTRICTIONS: You cannot select any units that have already been targeted with either the Dragonfire Rounds or Hellfire Rounds Stratagems this phase.
TARGET: Up to two KILL TEAM units from your army that have not been selected to shoot this phase, or one other ADEPTUS ASTARTES unit from your army (excluding VEHICLES) that has not been selected to shoot this phase.
EFFECT: Until the end of the phase, bolt weapons equipped by models in your unit have the [ASSAULT] and [IGNORES COVER] abilities
RESTRICTIONS: You cannot select any units that have already been targeted with either the Kraken Rounds or Hellfire Rounds Stratagems this phase.
Enhancements
If you are using the Black Spear Task Force Detachment rule, you can use these Black Spear Task Force Enhancements.
The Thief of Secrets is a blade whose machine spirit has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. It has tasted the vitae of countless alien races, absorbing those liquids through auto-sanctified sanguinator-channels and codifying them through the honeycombed array of logicum cells within. The biological secrets of many xenos races have thus been laid bare, allowing the blade’s user to modulate its power field, the better to slice through chitinous armour, rupture xenoform organs and burn out alien nervous systems. ADEPTUS ASTARTES model only. Improve the Strength, Damage, and Armour Penetration characteristics of the bearer’s melee weapons by 1. If an enemy model is destroyed as the result of a melee attack made by the bearer, at the end of that phase, until the end of the battle, improve the Strength, Damage, and Armour Penetration characteristics of the bearer’s melee weapons by 2 instead. |
The ancient clavis known as the Osseus Key is said to be the most powerful of its kind. Where other such devices are made from sanctified platinum, the Osseus Key is made from the hand and finger bones of deceased Imperial Fists heroes that fought in the Horus Heresy, scrimshawed with inhuman care and imbued with the fiercest machine spirits of the age. No portal can bar its bearer from entry, and no xenos machine can stand before his wrath. WATCH MASTER or TECHMARINE model only. At the start of your opponent’s Shooting phase, select one enemy VEHICLE unit (excluding TITANIC units) within 12" of and visible to the bearer. That model must take a Leadership test. If that test is passed, until the end of the phase, each time a model in that unit makes an attack, subtract 1 from the Hit roll; if that test is failed, that unit is not eligible to shoot this phase. |
The Beacon Angelis was devised to guide the Deathwatch to the threshold of the alien adversary. Housed within a reliquary, it calls out to the warriors’ augur arrays with the voices of a hundred electric cherubim, its summons so strong that it draws the righteous unto its locale regardless of what darkness may surround it. ADEPTUS ASTARTES model only. Models in the bearer’s unit have the Deep Strike ability. In addition, you can target the bearer’s unit with the Rapid Ingress Stratagem for 0CP. |
This grimoire, bound in the skin of the alien, holds the most powerful truths the Deathwatch have uncovered about their foes, whether xenos or those who harbour them. On occasion, such knowledge has been known to save not only the book’s custodian, but entire worlds. WATCH MASTER or CAPTAIN model only. Once per battle, after you have selected an enemy unit using the Oath of Moment ability in your Command phase, the bearer can use this Enhancement if they are on the battlefield. When they do, select a second enemy unit – until the start of your next Command phase, each time an ADEPTUS ASTARTES model from your army makes an attack that targets either of those enemy units, you can re-roll the Hit roll and you can re-roll the Wound roll. |
- A unit can embark within a friendly TRANSPORT if all of its models end a Normal, Advance or Fall Back move within 3" of that TRANSPORT.
- A unit cannot embark and disembark in the same phase.
Shattered ruins and twisted wreckage afford much-needed shelter from enemy salvoes. Even heavily armoured warriors unfazed by small arms fire are thankful for such cover when foes bring their biggest guns to bear.
Models can sometimes gain a measure of protection from terrain features. The rules below detail the conditions under which a terrain feature confers the Benefit of Cover on a model.Each time a ranged attack is allocated to a model that has the Benefit of Cover, add 1 to the saving throw made for that attack (excluding invulnerable saving throws). Models with a Save characteristic of 3+ or better cannot have the Benefit of Cover against attacks with an Armour Penetration characteristic of 0. Multiple instances of the Benefit of Cover are not cumulative – a model cannot benefit from this rule more than once at any one time.
- Benefit of Cover: Add 1 to armour saving throws against ranged attacks.
- Does not apply to models with a Save of 3+ or better against attacks with an AP of 0.
- Multiple instances are not cumulative.
- If an ADEPTUS ASTARTES unit has a second Faction keyword on its datasheet, that Faction keyword is the name of that unit’s Chapter. For example, Marneus Calgar has both the ADEPTUS ASTARTES and ULTRAMARINES Faction keywords, and is therefore from the Ultramarines Chapter.
- You cannot include units from more than one Chapter in your army.
Some weapons strike in a flurry of blows, tearing the foe apart with relentless ferocity.
Weapons with [SUSTAINED HITS X] in their profile are known as Sustained Hits weapons. Each time an attack is made with such a weapon, if a Critical Hit is rolled, that attack scores a number of additional hits on the target as denoted by ‘x’.- [SUSTAINED HITS X]: Each Critical Hit scores ‘x’ additional hits on the target.
Some weapons can inflict fatal injuries on any foe, no matter their resilience.
Weapons with [LETHAL HITS] in their profile are known as Lethal Hits weapons. Each time an attack is made with such a weapon, a Critical Hit automatically wounds the target.An unmodified Hit roll of 6 is called a Critical Hit and is always successful. An unmodified Hit roll of 1 always fails. A Hit roll can never be modified by more than -1 or +1.
- Hit Roll (Ranged Attack): A hit is scored if the D6 result equals or exceeds that attack’s BS.
- Hit Roll (Melee Attack): A hit is scored if the D6 result equals or exceeds that attack’s WS.
- Critical Hit: Unmodified Hit roll of 6. Always successful.
- An unmodified Hit roll of 1 always fails.
- A Hit roll can never be modified by more than -1 or +1.
Precision attacks can pick high-value targets out in a crowd, whether through the unerring aim of a sniper or the pinpoint accuracy of a blade-master’s strike.
Weapons with [PRECISION] in their profile are known as Precision weapons. Each time an attack made with such a weapon successfully wounds an Attached unit (see Leader ability), if a CHARACTER model in that unit is visible to the attacking model, the attacking model’s player can choose to have that attack allocated to that CHARACTER model instead of following the normal attack sequence.- When targeting an Attached unit, the attacking model’s player can have the attack allocated to a CHARACTER model in that unit visible to the bearer.
The KILL TEAM keyword is used in the following Deathwatch datasheets:
The ADEPTUS ASTARTES and INFANTRY keywords are used in the following Deathwatch datasheets:
Models cannot be set up or end a Normal, Advance or Fall Back move within Engagement Range of any enemy models. If for any reason a model cannot meet this condition, that model is destroyed.
- Engagement Range: Within 1" horizontally and 5" vertically.
- Models cannot be set up or end a Normal, Advance or Fall Back move within Engagement Range of any enemy models.
FUROR TACTICS
When the enemy horde grows close, the Deathwatch will be tasked with the decimation of their core. Aiming not for clinical kills but for maximum destruction over a wide area, they tear the heart from the enemy army.
While this Mission Tactic is active, weapons equipped by ADEPTUS ASTARTES units from your army have the [SUSTAINED HITS 1] ability.
MALLEUS TACTICS
When the giants of war lumber forth, the Deathwatch will adopt Malleus tactics. Even the largest behemoth has a weak point, and the archives of the Deathwatch number them all.
While this Mission Tactic is active, weapons equipped by ADEPTUS ASTARTES units from your army have the [LETHAL HITS] ability.
PURGATUS TACTICS
By adopting Purgatus tactics, the Deathwatch focus their deadly ire upon the commanders of the enemy host, assassinating them one after another with pitiless head shots and killing thrusts of the blade.
While this Mission Tactic is active, each time an ADEPTUS ASTARTES unit from your army makes an attack, if a Critical Hit is scored, that attack has the [PRECISION] ability.
- Absolvor bolt pistol
- Assault bolters
- Auto boltstorm gauntlets
- Bolt carbine
- Bolt pistol
- Bolt rifle
- Bolt sniper rifle
- Boltgun
- Boltstorm gauntlet
- Centurion bolters
- Combi-bolter
- Combi-weapon
- Deathwatch twin boltgun
- Forge bolter
- Hellfire Extremis
- Infernus heavy bolter – heavy bolter profile
- Instigator bolt carbine
- Long Vigil ranged weapon
- Marksman bolt carbine
- Master-crafted bolt rifle
- Master-crafted boltgun
- Master-crafted heavy bolt rifle
- Master-crafted scoped bolt carbine
- Master-crafted special issue bolt pistol
- Occulus bolt carbine
- Special issue bolt pistol
- Sternguard bolt pistol
- Sternguard bolt rifle
- Sternguard heavy bolter
- Storm bolter
- Twin bolt rifle
- Twin boltgun
- Twin heavy bolter
- Vigil spear
Some weapons can inflict strikes of such power that they make a mockery of armour
Weapons with [DEVASTATING WOUNDS] in their profile are known as Devastating Wounds weapons. Each time an attack is made with such a weapon, if that attack scores a Critical Wound, no saving throw of any kind can be made against that attack (including invulnerable saving throws). Such attacks are only allocated to models after all other attacks made by the attacking unit have been allocated and resolved.- Saving throws cannot be made against Critical Wounds scored by this weapon (including invulnerable saving throws).
Certain weapons are the bane of a particular foe.
Weapons with [ANTI-KEYWORD X+] in their profile are known as Anti weapons. Each time an attack is made with such a weapon against a target with the keyword after the word ‘Anti-’, an unmodified Wound roll of ‘x+’ scores a Critical Wound.- [ANTI-KEYWORD X+]: An unmodified Wound roll of ‘x+’ against a target with the matching keyword scores a Critical Wound.
Assault weapons fire so indiscriminately that they can be shot from the hip as warriors dash forward.
Weapons with [ASSAULT] in their profile are known as Assault weapons. If a unit that Advanced this turn contains any models equipped with Assault weapons, it is still eligible to shoot in this turn’s Shooting phase. When such a unit is selected to shoot, you can only resolve attacks using Assault weapons its models are equipped with.- Can be shot even if the bearer’s unit Advanced.
Some weapons are designed to root enemy formations out of entrenched positions.
Weapons with [IGNORES COVER] in their profile are known as Ignores Cover weapons. Each time an attack is made with such a weapon, the target cannot have the Benefit of Cover against that attack.The TECHMARINE keyword is used in the following Space Marines datasheets:
Some units make their way to battle via tunnelling, teleportation, high-altitude descent or other extraordinary means that allow them to appear suddenly in the thick of the fighting.
During the Declare Battle Formations step, if every model in a unit has this ability, you can set it up in Reserves instead of setting it up on the battlefield. If you do, in the Reinforcements step of one of your Movement phases you can set up this unit anywhere on the battlefield that is more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy models.- Unit can be set up in Reserves instead of on the battlefield.
- Unit can be set up in your Reinforcements step, more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy models.
TARGET: One unit from your army that is in Reserves.
EFFECT: Your unit can arrive on the battlefield as if it were the Reinforcements step of your Movement phase, and if every model in that unit has the Deep Strike ability, you can set that unit up as described in the Deep Strike ability (even though it is not your Movement phase).
RESTRICTIONS: You cannot use this Stratagem to enable a unit to arrive on the battlefield during a battle round it would not normally be able to do so in.
The CAPTAIN keyword is used in the following Deathwatch datasheets:
In battle, Space Marines swear mighty oaths to destroy the enemies of the Emperor and uphold the honour of their Chapter, and such vows are sacrosanct. When the Angels of Death strike, they do so with the precision of a surgeon and the force of a thunderbolt. Experience and strategic expertise help them to read the shifting shape of the battle with post-human speed and clarity, directing their wrath towards one priority target after another. Command assets are annihilated, leaving the enemy reeling leaderless. Heavy armour, potent artillery and the vaunted elites of the foe’s forces are laid waste with horrifying speed, until the Emperor’s Angels of Death stand victorious over a field of smouldering wreckage and bolt-riddled corpses, and honour is finally satisfied.
If your Army Faction is ADEPTUS ASTARTES, at the start of your Command phase, select one unit from your opponent’s army. Until the start of your next Command phase, that enemy unit is your Oath of Moment target. Each time a model with this ability makes an attack that targets your Oath of Moment target, you can re-roll the Hit roll.
| ||||||||||||||
If the result of the Wound roll is greater than or equal to the required number shown in the table above, then that Wound roll is successful and scores one wound against the target unit. Otherwise, the attack fails and the attack sequence ends.
An unmodified Wound roll of 6 is called a Critical Wound and is always successful. An unmodified Wound roll of 1 always fails. A Wound roll can never be modified by more than -1 or +1.
- Critical Wound: Unmodified Wound roll of 6. Always successful.
- An unmodified Wound roll of 1 always fails.
- A Wound roll can never be modified by more than -1 or +1.
