Deathwatch Overkill

I love the simplicity of Deathwatch Overkill. I think it might have been a stepping stone in the game design of Warhammer Underworlds and Blackstone Fortress – limited models with the use of cards to buff or reinforce what’s on the board. It’s a frustration that I’ve never played past the 4th mission. However, at the beginning of lockdown I managed to cajole my youngest into having his second game, I can’t recall how long ago we played mission 1 but I don’t seem to have a record of it on the blog. Mission 1 is incredibly easy for the marine player, it’s a great introduction to the game and letting him play as the marines gave him a sense of achievement that would hopefully encourage him to play again… like I say, I can’t recall how long ago that was!

So, we played mission 2, essentially I have control over some comms relays in the top right, kill-team Cassius must occupy the four relays. He has 6 team members to do it, if I kill 3 he fails.

Some early ambushes flooded the board with cultists appearing from the shadows.

But as usual they fell to significant shooting from the Deathwatch

This meant the marines could try a two pronged assault, coming on from the flank with the fast moving White Scar and Blood Angel, while being covered at the rear by Rodricus Grytt and his Frag Cannon. 

A couple of Purestrain Genestealers tried to take on Edric Setorax claw to claw…

But both of them and the Aberrants who had faced Vael Donatus failed to capitalise on their ambush.

With such fast using units the comms room suddenly became packed with bodies, with at least one fallen from its comms relay leaving it open for capture.

Despite this more Genestealers were incoming but was it too little too late?

At this stage I was struggling to make a dent in the Kill Team, Setorax had clearly taken a wound but I couldn’t convert it to a kill. I decided to just make the best of bringing on bodies, using the gambits [stratagems] may well have been more productive but they felt a little shady and I needed bodies on the board, but most of them were coming on too far away to reach the melee in the comms room.

As the Kill Team pressed forward there wasn’t much the cultists could do to hold them back with 3 out 4 of the relays occupied it would only require a small push for Donatus to capture the last one.

Which he did. As you can see many cultists were converging on the comms room, but for all their meticulous planning they would arrive too late as the Kill Team destroyed all the relays.

There we go, another win for Kill Team Cassius. I had a fun time with my son, there were numerous times where the dice rolls caused roars of success and cries of failure. Not sure the bug has bitten [no pun intended] but I think he finally saw what it was about. Whether we play again sooner than last time is anyone’s guess but for now I’ll just take this for what it was 😍

Deatwatch Overkillin’

When I went round to Liam’s we had a game of Kill Team, with his son taking Skitarii and I used his Genestealer Cult. It was an interesting revision of the game I was particularly interested in the oversized tokens which could be streamlined a little bit to keep track of you actions.

However, we also had a game of Deathwatch Overkill. We started off the first mission, which I still believe you have to be some kind of special unlucky to lose as the Marines. Unfortunately I seem to have misplaced Jetek Suberei and Garran Branatar so he was reduced to taking these guys:

• Ortan Cassius – Ultramarine Chaplain
• Rodricus Grytt – Imperial Fist, Frag Cannon
• Drenn Redblade – Space Wolf, chainsword
• Jensus Natorian – Blood Raven Librarian

Cassius is pretty tough though so I don’t think there were any disadvantages to this choice. I think at this stage he’s already killed a Neophyte on the left and two Acolytes on the right.

It became clear Liam had grasped the importance of controlling my ambush points with Redblade and Cassius securing most of the right one and Natorian the other, although there was room just for my an Aberrant and Acolyte to arrive. Another Aberrant and Acolyte came in from their deployment having. Mining Lasers and Neophytes rushed the Ultramarine and Space Wolf.

Who blasted them to pieces with area effect weapons.

The Librarian was only able to take out one cultist, luckily for him it was the Aberrant

I think I managed to wound Rodricus Grytt but he healed himself while Cassius came forward to offer support, killing the Acolyte and Abberant.

More Cultists arrived but Cassius had joined Redblade to prevent more ambushes from that entrance. In response the section was booby-trapped while my Cultists lurked offboard.

Having spotted the charges Cassius and Redblade were forced out of the ambush point but still managed to kill the two Acolytes nearby. Grytt and Natorian also killed two Acolytes on the other side of the board.

But the Blood Raven had overstretched himself and the two remaining Genestealers managed to find chinks in his armour and bring him low.

With righteous fury at the loss of his brethren Cassius crossed the board taking on 5 Neophytes that had just burst from the depths.

Thanks to a Gambit bringing on more Ambushes there were Cultists coming from everywhere.

But Cassius blasted the five Neophytes apart while Redblade took out two Acolytes.

A further Acolyte bit the dust which gave Liam the win.

As usual we still played out the turn, even though the game was decided and the mangy Space Pup bit the dust for my own satisfaction.

Once again a really fun game, of course it gets better when you have access to the extra models, both deathwatch and Cultists, use the bigger board set ups and have a bigger deck of cards to play with. I really like the game, it feels a lot easier and quicker to play than the likes of Space Hulk and the Broodmind deck offers just the right amount of tactics without being too complex and gamey. I’d love to play out all the missions one day.

Deathwatch OVERKILL-ED!?

Much has been mentioned recently over the removal of Horus Heresy – Betrayal at Calth and Burning of Prospero. These were games in their own right but in all honesty folk were getting them for the models. Obviously they were ideal for Heresy era fans, those wishing to play Horus Heresy could fill out an army cheaply without resorting to older Mk armour from Forgeworld. Or, you might just want to play 40k with some cool retro looking Astartes, not to mention the original way to access Custodes.

That said, with the advent of Primaris Marines the need for these models in their own boxed games was probably quite expensive in production when you’d already started offer smaller tactical squad boxes of the same figures. Folk could still buy the earlier Marks albeit at not quite as good value and there was now no need to add in all the game components. It was a commercially sensible decision, the games aren’t ‘organised play’ like Killt Team or Shadespire so no reason to keep them around.

Which brings us to Deathwatch Overkill, which seems to have also been axed, and yet I’m not sur eanyone noticed. I’ll admit my journalistic investigation has not stretched to asking GW directly if it’s gone but it is no longer on their website, no longer on 3rd party retailers and one GW store manager described his sole remaing copy as ‘contraband’ and supposed to be returned to HQ.

Now in principle the same valid commercial reasons for axing the Heresy games ring true here, the main difference being that we have multi-pose, Acolytes, Neophytes and now even Aberrants. What is sad is that the universal advice to those wishing to start Genestealer Cults – buy 2 boxes of Deathwatch Overkill is no longer appropriate. Definitely the most cost-effective way to fill out your army [not to mention Kill-Team Cassius, but that again has been carved off].

It’s also sad about the game. I can’t comment on the Heresy game but I like Deathwatch Overkill, I played it last night and I still really like it. Although I haven’t played Shadespire yet I have a sneekinn suspicion the ‘deck building’ nature might be very similar to the Broodmind Deck mechanic in Overkill.

I’m not saying this is a mistake by GW or we should demand it’s return, it may well come back in the future, like Space Hulk [also no longer available, again]. What I am saying is this was the best of the three games that came out before these boxed games got their act together. It’s arguably the most valuable [we’ll ignore renegades 😉 ] and it therfore deserves far more of a lament than the Heresy games.

Farewell Ghosar Quintus!

Deatwatch Overkillin’

I finished all the Deathwatch Overkill boxset [except the 2 Purestrains] quite a while back but never had the chance to play since. Luckily I bullied Ben in to having a go, he really likes the Deathwatch Marines I did so I didn’t have to twist his arm too much. We started off the first mission, which I still believe you have to be some kind of special unlucky to lose as the Marines. I think he chose a couple of guys at random and some just because he liked the models but his squad was:

• Jetek Suberei – White Scar biker
• Ennox Sorrlock – Iron Hands combi-melta
• Edryc Setorax – Raven Guard, jump pack and lightning claws
• Garran Branatar – Salamander Termintaor with Flamer, Melta-gun and power fist

The Free Radical Collective emerged from the bowls of the underhive.

Interestingly discovered these are open gantries, not enclosed rooms as PeteB and I always played – so no LoS blocking walls!

Deathwatch attack and I lose all but 3 hybrids in the middle of the board.

Jetek surges ahead to confront the cult deep in their territory.

But he had been lured into an ambush as two Abberants surged out of the gloom. Jetek struck one of them dead but couldn’t kill them both.

I had a gambit that allowed models to strike twice, which was sufficient to put the White Scar down through weight of attacks.

Branatar and Setorax had struggled to keep up with their watch brother, covering their rear.

Having killed the biker the cultists advanced to add weight of number against the three remaining Marines.

And yet more cultists appeared from the hive.

The Kill team had to respond

Branatar’s flamer immolating four in one blast of holy Promethium. Meanwhile an Abberant skulked off into the network of tunnels to ambush the squad when and where they least expected.

The cultists that survived continued to press the 3 marines in an attempt to swamp them. Two Abberants appeared next to Ennox Sorrlock and Setorax, but Setorax was attacked from his flank as a third Aberrant appeared from the tunnels.

Setorax was able to counter the newly arrived Abberant and further kills ensured that the Kill Team met their target of 30 dead cultists.

It’s difficult to convey but this was in the balance at one stage. Although I hadn’t played in a while I was quick to suss how some of the Gambits could work quite well and used them to great effect – overwhelming Jetek Suberei for instance but Ben brought it back at the end as my cultists sold their lives cheaply.

With his eye in we set up mission two to control the four vox devices oin the top right board. Ben chose a new Kill Team of:

• Garran Branatar – Salamander Termintaor with Flamer, Melta-gun and power fist
• Ortan Cassius – Ultramarine Chaplain
• Rodricus Grytt – Imperial Fist, Frag Cannon
• Drenn Redblade – Space Wolf, chainsword
• Zameon Gydrael – Dark Angel Plasma Pistol and Power Sword
• Antor Delassio – Blood Angel, Jump Pack, chainsword and hand flamer

With seven cards to draw and five to play my ambush looked pretty impressive first turn.

Bu tthe Kill Team was more than ready as the moved forward to secure their hive section.

All the ambushes in their deployment were wiped out.

But some long range speculative fire was able to take down Rodricus Grytt and remove the Frag Cannon from play.

The squad advanced deeper into the hive and on towards their objective.

The Vox Controls were guarded by two Abberants and hybrids but I had to stall their advance and moved the Aberrants forward.

These beasts were backed up by a Purestrain Genestealer and yet more Hybrids as they attacked the squad, which had just leapt the chasm between the gantries [while Branatar arrived via teleport].

With further support moving in to the Vox room to defend the controls. Meanwhile a pair of Hybrids shadowed the Kill Team on the far side of the gantries and more cultists arrived from the Deathwatch deployment zone.

With brutal efficiency the Deathwatch purged the Xenos, Chaplain Cassius inciting new levels of violence in his squad.

With their path clear the Kill Team deployed into the Vox room. Two more Aberrants and two Purestrains rushed to prevent them controlling the Vox, they surged forwads and the attack twice gambit allowed them to take down the Blood Angel.

But he was quickly replaced by Brannatar and all my heavy hitters were destroyed, with my next round of ambushes being mainly Elites – the Magus and Primus. The Magus managed to cast Dominion on Branatar, rmeoving his potent flamer from combat. Meanwhile an Abberant reached the fray thanks to a double move Gambit that put Drenn Redblade in the meat grinder.

With the third squad member dead there was no way Kill Team Cassius could complete their mission to control all four Vox and the game was over.

Ben was really unlucky to use Rodricus Grytt so early on, without that casualty he would probably have made it. It’s also worth noting when the 2 Purestrains came on I had another ambush for a third, now you only get 2 Purestrains in the box but obviously I’ve loads of Genestealers so we initially had the third one come on but their efficacy was unreal and would have wiped out two squad members in one turn, so it was easy enough to pretend it never happened, rewind and stick to the units you get in the box in future.

Anyway, Ben liked it so hopefully we’ll continut the missions next time.

Deathwatch To Done! pt3

Got to love my phone pics, you can almost get warm just looking at them! I expect them to be a bit different and occassionally they come out amazing but sometimes they offer only a little more saturation than the originals.

It’s fun to play though but as these weren’t adding much to the mix I didn’t take many. In future I should probably use these specifically for close-ups, they tend to work better in that capacity.

As you can see the colours get completely out of whack on them too.

But Jetek looks pretty cool and his skintone at least shows up my attempt to render his scar.

So that’s the last of the Deathwatch, hope you liked them.

Deathwatch To Done! pt2

Here’s all the pics I took against a white background. Still need to sort out the white balance but as I say I’m rushing through these so I can’t really complain about the results.

Here are the front, back and side profile views so you can see the entire model.

Last of the pics tomorrow, they’re my phone pics which often produce more striking imagery, they’re definitely more saturated!

Deathwatch To Done! pt1

I took a shedload [literally, I was in the shed] of pictures of the Deathwatch so I’ve spread it over three posts over the next three days.

These were a real challenge as each model has so much detail on, far more than a standard Deathwatch Marine, so I was glad to finally get them done.

I’m pleased with the result, a little shocked how busy they all are when the over-riding image of the Deathwatch is black, a silver arm and one coloured shoulder pad.

I threw in a lot of extra colours, which might have been a mistake, maybe I’ll find out when I eventually paint up the other set.

I’ve still to play a game of Deathwatch Overkill with both the completed Kill Team and the Hybrids, I think it’ll look fantastic when I do.

I’m just going to let the following shots speak for themselves until the individual model views.

A tale of two pairs of eyes – Ortan Cassius = hate [too much eye shadow], Jensus Natorian = love [its either ethereal glow or crazy Ultimate Warrior make-up, regardless I think it’s awesome]

I hate the belted kilts on models, I can never paint them well at all. Dubious purple lizard skin on the Salamander.

Love the Raven Guard, again the eyes on the Blood Angel are dubious. This time no heavy outline but the pupils stand out weird. I tried blue irises but it just didn’t work. They’re far from bad but just look odd.

Dark Angel came out alright, Power Swords are always an issue. Drenn Redblade however, I’m embarrassed to admit, is my favourite and he’s a Space Wolf. It was such a happy accident to actually paint his Chainsword red, the official painted model isn’t. I keep forgetting all the names so to paint it red and find out he’s called Redblade just made it even more special.

Ennox Sorrlock and Rodricus Grytt. I was pleased with Ennox’s skintone, just a little different to fit with the Iron Hands, didn’t do his eye but I’m happy with it nontheless. Rodricus came out OK too.

Lastly Jetek Suberei.

He’s actually missing some red weathering powder on the wheels for the Ferron dust kicked up by his travels. I’ll have to remember when I do my next lot of Ravenwing

Some elements really worked on this guy, some look a little messy but he was the model I was least looking forward to as bikes can be so depressing.

So the success despite the morale check is worth far more than it should be, and for that reason – Great Big Gamboge Stamp of Approval! More pictures to follow, individual front, side and back profiles, then some phone shots.

Deathwatch/wing – Librarianism To Done!

I had the opportunity to catch up with some of my To Done! pics. Again a mixed bag of success on the photography, I’ve received some helpful comments, but if I’m going to rush through the picture taking process so I can get back to actually painting the figures then I have to be accept the results I get!

Most of these pics are actually off my phone anyway, so again there’s not much to justify any complaints. The Space Hulk Librarian was on my To Do List, so it was nice to actually just tick it off – a ‘quick win’ that had taken a long time to get done 😉

I’m pretty happy with the glow effects too, some of the lightning could be better  but for the most part I think I did a good job.

Not entirely sure if I’ll ever use him but if my Deathwing are deployed in force he’ll probably be a HQ option I might take.

I was very crude with removing the Blood Angel references, perhaps too crude as they’re still recognisable in some places but again the potential use out of the model is so limited it didn’t warrant any more effort than I actually put into it.

Happy with the lettering on the pages though.

Job done, so I gets me the Great Big Gamboge Stamp of Approval. More to come as I finish writing up some of my other successes so far this season.

Deathwatch/wing – Librarianism

With Ennox Sorrlock [Iron Hands] and Ortan Cassius all but complete the only remaining squad members are Jetek Suberei [which we always knew would be an issue] and the Librarian Jensus Natorian. And so I returned to my Space Hulk Librarian in Terminator armour… but it’s not a problem as many of the psyker effects I’m employing on this guy were to be used on Jensus. But first I painted his Dark Angel tabbard and then it was on to the deathwing symbol.

Once again I’ve surprised myself and from a distance it’s pretty great. Obviously the close up reveals a few mistakes – the top of the wing on the right is angled up a bit, the sword isn’t quite in the centre of the shoulder pad and the colours are a bit patchy. But I don’t mind it, I like the semi-transparent finish and won’t even be addign any highlights as I think it marries up with the slighlty more grungy bonewhite shading on the bottom of the pad. And again, table-top wise you notice none of this.

I’d been debating the ‘force’ colour choice. Yellow had been one option, red was another but I went with what I’d already done for my Dark Vengeance Librarian – turquoise. Now this was a contentious decision as I need to apply weathering to all the brass and bronze and would need to differentiate between the two effects. My solution was to go bright with the ‘force’ and darker with the verdigris.

For the force I started with my Army Painter Turquoise as it’s the darkest one I have and then used my Do Crafts Turquoise [second highlights on my Tyranid Chitin plates] as the brighter centre, then Nihilakh Oxide and finally white. The little lighning sparks were a mixed success , some a bit chunkier than others but overall I was impressed with the results.

And as promised I simultaneously applied the same effects to Jensus.

The glows around the eyes became a little ‘superhero mask’ as opposed to glowing eyes but it could have been worse.

This just left the patina and a few bits and bobs, plus another coat or two on the base edges and then Suberei… meanwhile, no sign yet of my Sentinel bases.

Deathwatch – "Woah, we’re half way there"

These guys are essentially complete at this stage. Ordinarily I’d have saved the pictures for their ‘To Done’ shoot but I had to take pictures for a 2 month painting challenge on the Tyranid Hive forum and as I’m short of content I may as well share. I didn’t quite get the full squad done but my revised estimate of half was exceed by one thanks to completing the Blood Angel – Antor Delassio.

I’m really excited with these now, I actually can’t wait to play Deathwatch Overkill once the entire Kill Team is complete.

So despite my patience beginning to run out I’m really chuffed. They all still need varnishing and some effects with Tamiya Clear etc. Otherwise, V. pleased.

The remaining Deathwatch have had some highlights done so there’s just some individual details to overcome – colours to represent Force Weapons and psychic powers being a particular quandry, not to mention Jetek Suberei… They should all be done this week and I can then focus on the Sentinels, three weeks to AoP…