Deathwatch Combat Patrol Review

Who Are The Deathwatch?

The Deathwatch is a highly specialised Chapter. Their primary mission is to combat xenos (alien) threats to the Imperium of Man.

Members of the Deathwatch come from a wide range of Space Marine Chapters across the Imperium. This allows them to tap into the diverse combat doctrines, tactics, and abilities of various Chapters, making them highly adaptable xenos hunters.

Deathwatch Marines wear distinctive black power armor adorned with a silver left pauldron (shoulder guard) marked with an Inquisitorial “I.” While their right still maintains the chapter they originated from.

Their central base is known as the “Watch Fortress,” and it is strategically positioned near the Jericho Reach, a region of space rife with xenos threats. From here, they monitor and respond to xenos incursions using specific ordos (departments), each dedicated to combating a specific xenos race. For example, there is an Ordo Xenos for Tyranids and another for the Aeldari.

What’s In The Box?

A Primaris Lieutenant gives the orders here. A Primaris Apothecary keeps everyone on their feet (or retrieves a soldiers gene-seed if things take a turn). Three Primaris Aggressors provide heavy firepower and support for the 10 Primaris Intercessors. The set is complete with two Death Watch upgrade frames/sprues full of adornments for your elite troops.

Once again, we have another solid Space Marine box. This is one of the few boxes to not include a larger unit, but this is Death Watch, and they don’t need one. The combination of a Lieutenant and an Apothecary is a much more tactical pairing and will force you to use cover and a range of tactics to slay the xeno filth. Which is much more in keeping with the Death Watch lore.

Are They Difficult To Paint?

Even though these Deathwatch Space Marines are the most skilled, they’re still easy to paint like their brethren. Although I’m repeating myself from my Black Templar breakdown, it’s worth repeating here - the armour is black meaning you can cover mistakes quickly. Personally I struggle with highlighting black armour as the highlights always look a little too bright for my taste. So my solution is to follow the colour guide and, once all the armour is highlighted, I chuck on a wash of Abaddon Black to bring everything down.

The additional embellishments are simple enough, with the left pauldron needing a couple of metallic paints to cover and then the ever-important Nuln Oil to finish and unify the paintjob. The right pauldron will require a a couple of paints from each Space Marine chapter, but, once again, this is an enjoyable task and will allow you to have fun decide which chapter each soldier once belonged to.

Weapons have the classic red casing, which is less forgiving when it comes to covering mistakes than the black casing. But has much more impact once highlighted. It’s also a great nod to the early days of Warhammer 40K painting when the majority of Space Marines had red weapons.