Goatboy’s Warhammer 40k: Deathwing Speartip
Goatboy here with a Deathwing army so tough, even Lion El’Jonson is impressed.
I hope you got your Terminator stock locked down – because it seems they are poised to be a pain in the butt for a while. The last 2 “Marine” releases have really pushed the terminators to the forefront and I expect the leftover Marines to get in the game when they come out (Terminators and Legions – I bet they will be rough). I talked a bit about the Blightlords but the new “Chaos” seems poised to show up a ton on the tabletop. The Dark Angels got a much needed updated book that has pushed them from last place to most likely first place amongst all the Marine super friends. I know you’ve read it all over and I am sure you are tired of hearing your old Deathwing friends giggle when thinking about the dark things they are going to do to people’s army on the battlefields.
With that – let’s see about building a pure Deathwing list. Overall it looks to be the next best small model/cheapish cost army. I think of it like the Custodes with more options and an easier way to build a “balanced” list. Heck, it feels well set up to fit into the winner of the LVNopen with a sold middle core with a brutal counter-assault. Now do I think this idea or list building is completely broken? No, I think it is good and in the current 9th environment that pushes board control and counter assaults I think it will do well. There will be builds that will hurt it, there will be builds that will out maneuver it, but there won’t be builds that will out “tough” it.
What makes the choices so good is really the Inner Circle mixed with Objective secured. It is a frustrating bit of toughness that I am not the most excited about as it makes the game less fun for an opponent as you remove their successes – not just take damage away. It’s like they have 2 Invulnerable saves that rely on one for you to roll and the other for your opponent to roll. Which I think does some things to the overall game state that can be frustrating. Of course, if Deathwing becomes too popular you can expect to see a lot of Strength 4 with at least a -2 to the AP to become popular as you are not removing any damage on “successes” and instead just going for that 4+ versus their 4+. As this meta shifts, a bit with just armchair generals and small events we’ll see what ends up rolling the top.
Let’s start building and just go all-in on Terminators.
Deathwing 2021
Vanguard Detachment – Adeptus Astartes – 0CP
Chapter – Dark Angels
-HQ-
Captain in Terminator Armor – Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer, Chapter Master, Warlord – Decisive Tactician – 160pts
Deathwing Strikemaster – Lightclaws X 2 – 95pts
-Elites-
Ancient in Terminator Armor – Relic – Lightning Claw X 2(Did this cuz it looks cool), Pennant of Remembrance – 100pts
Deathwing Terminators X 10 – SS/Thammer X 4, Assault Cannon X 2 – 410pts
Deathwing Terminators X 10 – SS/Thammer X 4, Assault Cannon X 2 – 410pts
Vanguard Detachment – Adeptus Astartes – 3CP
-HQ-
Interrogator-Chaplain in Terminator Armor – Master of Sanctity, Extra Warlord Trait (-1CP) – Wise Orator, Litanies – Canticle of Hate/Litany of Hate – 125pts
Librarian in Terminator Armor – Mind Worm, Righteous Repugnance – 105pts
-Elites-
Deathwing Apothecary – Chief Apothecary, Extra Warlord Trait (-1CP) Selfless Healer – 115pts
Deathwing Knights X 5 – 235pts
Deathwing Knights X 5 – 235pts
PTS: 1990 CP: +7
Deathwing Tactics
The idea of this army is just to be extremely small and all Terminators. I am using the Deathwing Knights as deep striking units designed to go out and do some damage. They are not meant to be anything else other than targets/annoyances and thus the reason for the smaller unit. Throw in some chances to get some cool charges off and you got a nice little scalpel to come in.
The other reason for the Assault Cannons is I expect a lot of players to have some from the old starter set that had some of those laying around. It also gives you some bolter damage as needed if you want to. I went with some Lightning Claws as they look cool and can be set up to make for some interesting looking models. But hey – this is a 36 model army thus easy to fly with, fast to play, and you got a chance to make it look awesome on the tabletop.
For the Lion!
